The Googlization of Everything

CNET News:

Sandy Litvack, a dogged trustbuster in pursuit of Google Posted by Dawn Kawamoto Google and Yahoo are household names. But, Sandy Litvack? Not so much.

While Litvack may be obscure to the general public, he is well-known in antitrust circles as a sharp litigator--and one who Yahoo and Google may soon become acquainted with if the Department of Justice challenges the companies' controversial search advertising partnership.

For now, it's unclear whether the scope of the investigation will only focus on the Yahoo-Google deal. Some sources told CNET News that a federal investigation could broaden to examining Google's overall impact on the marketplace.

But there’s little question that bringing in Litvack indicates just how serious federal trustbusters are in their pursuit of Google.

Litvack, a former antitrust chief for the Department of Justice under the Democratic Carter administration, was pulled back into service from private practice litigation by the DOJ earlier this month, in order to serve as a consultant in the antitrust unit of its networks and technology department, according to a DOJ source. This marks Litvack's third pass through the antitrust department, with his first as a trial lawyer fresh out of Georgetown Law Center in 1959.

Given his reputation as a sharp litigator, some former DOJ attorneys say the antitrust staff has likely completed its analysis of the case, and is now seeking Litvack's assistance on whether he could build a case that could be won at trial.

"They're not using Sandy to analyze the facts of the case. They're not asking his opinion whether this is a good thing or a bad thing," said one former DOJ antitrust attorney, who requested anonymity. "They want to know if he thinks he can sell this case in court."

In order to make a complex case simple so that a judge hearing the antitrust case will understand it, the prosecutors will want to simplify it, latching onto issues such as market share that can be understood in a courtroom. That's where someone like Litvack would come in.

"Good litigators can take a complex subject and make it sound simple," the source said.

By most accounts, the Yahoo-Google transaction announced in June is complex. The non-exclusive agreement allows Google to have its ads appear on Yahoo's search pages. Although Yahoo notes it is free to decide where Google's ads will appear and to what extent they will appear, the Internet search pioneer is planning to use Google enough to yield hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yahoo, for example, expects to receive $800 million in revenue from the deal in its first year and another bit of operating cash flow to the tune of $250 million to $450 million in the same period.

It's clear the deal has rankled more than a few. A major advertising trade group on Sunday announced it had sent a letter to the DOJ to protest the proposed transaction.

The advertisers worry the deal would diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices currently available and, as a result, lead to a rise in advertising prices. Microsoft has also weighed in with its opposition to the search advertising deal, as well as some legislators. ...