ABSTRACT
The recent monopolization action brought by the United States against Microsoft has galvanized public interest in competition policy as applied to the hightechnology sector. Yet the Microsoft case is but one in a series of public enforcement actions, and private antitrust suits, that are determining how antitrust laws will be applied to the information economy. This chapter describes the economic characteristics of information industries, draws out the implications of these characteristics for competition policy, and illustrates how antitrust policy has evolved recently in the United States in the hightech sector.
