FTC investigates Apple/Google ties

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether collaboration between Apple and Google is violating antitrust laws, according to the New York Times.

Part of the problem, it’s reported, is that the companies share a couple of Board of Directors members:

Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, and Arthur Levinson, the former chief executive of Genentech. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 prohibits a person’s presence on the board of two rival companies when it would reduce competition between them.

Antitrust experts say the “interlocking directorates” provision, known as Section 8 of the act, is rarely enforced.

The article goes on to spell out the ways in which Apple and Google are both allies and competitors: Google makes the Map application which is included on every iPhone, but they’re also behind the Android software that makes the G1 cell phone.

Read [the New York Times]