Answer all the following questions. Provide specific examples to support your answers.
- What was the basic charge against Microsoft by the government?
- Why do you think, in the end, the government announced it did not want a breakup of the company and just wanted to settle the case quickly?
- What kind of agreement is illegal for businesses to make?
- If Altria (a major corporation with control over Philip Morris, Miller Brewing, and Kraft Foods, among many others) requires large chain food stores such as Kroger or Food Lion to purchase required quantities of products from each of these (now three separate) companies on the basis that it essentially just one large, combined supplier purchase, do you think this would be legal or illegal? Why or why not?
- Why are the antitrust laws controversial?