³ÉÈË´óƬ

Monopolization means changing industry structure to reduce competition. Preventing harm to competition is a worthy goal for antitrust policy, but a difficult one. Acts of competing themselves may affect industry structure and harm competitors. In many contexts it is quite difficult to reliably tell the difference between changes in industry structure because of monopolization vs. because of competition. These general guiding principles are familiar, but they apply with redoubled force in the computer industry. The computer industry has changed to new modes of competition, which we do not yet fully understand. The determinants of computer industry structure offer very powerful forces for efficient concentration and excellent opportunities for monopolization at the same time. There are only rarely opportunities for public policy to influence industry structure, and neither the appropriate policy goal nor the appropriate policy instrument need be obvious at those moments. There is a consensus that the present may be one of those moments, and the future structure of the computer industry may be on the line. This paper provides an overview of the workings of computer industry competition and uses it to examine the likely efficacy of antitrust policy intervention.