A Peak Into the Future? AAG-Designate Christine Varney on Section 2: Audio from AAI June 2008 Conference

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

At the AAI annual conference in June 2008, Christine Varney, President Obama's nominee for the top antitrust position at DOJ, spoke on a panel about Section 2 of the Sherman Act. She generally endorsed the AAI's transition recommendations and commented on the need for creating the right political climate for Section 2 intervention, the difficult intersection of Section 2 and intellectual property, the potential monopoly power of Google, and the risk that Europe will have the more influential role on dealing with dominant firms unless the DOJ takes a more active role. Listen to the audio from Varney’s Section 2 panel here.

One quote worth remembering is,“For me, Microsoft is so last century. They are not the problem.” Does this mean trans-Atlantic turbulence given recent Commission efforts (again) against Microsoft?