Christine Varney – US Assistant Attorney General
“Patents have been used in the past to create or extend monopolies. We will be looking closely at any attempts to do so via abuse of the patent laws.” – the first time mentioned and the audience responded with their first big burst of applause of the morning.
“We will closely scrutinize mergers that come before us.” If they restrict competition
“They will not go through during this department of justice.”
Companies that are large “have responsibility to behave in ways that keep the competitive market open”
They also have criminal authority. “It is illegal for competitors to fix prices and we will prosecute that criminally.”
After she speaks Eric Holder recognizes what a great leader Christine is. The room is a little more electric and awake after her talk.
He also underlines that they won’t allow big companies to misuse power. “Big is not bad. But big companies who misuse power will be stopped by this department.”
Holder calls it an issue of national security. Believes his job is to make improvements that impacts people’s day to day lives.
