Who will get caught in antitrust net

Big tech companies are likely targets for the Justice Department’s antitrust crackdown, say experts, which could bode well for some smaller players.

One reason tech firms tend to be on antitrust watch lists is because technology is always evolving with companies looking to enter new consumer markets with new products. It’s that emphasis on "new" that will make it easier for the Justice Department to launch an investigation, say experts.

"Obama’s biggest obstacle to its antitrust policy is that the federal courts have developed a number of defendant-favoring rulings that have made it difficult for the Justice Department to win," said Keith Hylton, antitrust professor at the Boston University School of Law. "That makes tech attractive to the Obama team, because there will be cases that the courts haven’t ruled on before."

President Obama’s top antitrust official, Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney, last week announced the reversal of a Bush-era policy that had weakened the government’s ability to take on monopolies.

Also last week, European regulators levied a record $1.5 billion fine against Intel Corp. for unfairly paying computer makers to delay or even cancel products that contained chips made by rival AMD.

"In the tech sector, it’s possible to get such an advantage with a product, that nothing else is worth buying," said Martin Reynolds, analyst with tech consultancy Gartner. "There becomes an inertia effect, where a product builds a critical mass, and it’s difficult to move away from it."

Among the most common ways for leading tech firms to gain market share is through mergers and acquisitions. But with the Obama administration vowing to be aggressive on the antitrust front, those types of tie-ups may now face much closer inspection in the United States.

Here’s a snapshot of some potential losers and winners in the new antitrust era:

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