Regulators scrutinize ties between Apple and Google

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Apple and Google Ties Investigated
By MIGUEL HELFT and BRAD STONE, New York Times
May 4, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO ? The Federal Trade Commission has begun an inquiry into whether the close ties among the boards of two of technology?s most prominent companies, Apple and Google, amount to a violation of antitrust laws, according to several people briefed on the inquiry.

Apple and Google share two directors, Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, and Arthur Levinson, 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. The two companies increasingly compete in the cellphone and operating systems markets.

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