This is why I can't get excited about all the intellectualizing by legal experts decrying how inadequate and unprepared the legal system is to handle technology-related issues and disputes. Let's look at the record. At the risk of minimizing the landmark dissolution of Standard Oil Trust of New Jersey in 1911, the action took place at a time when kerosene, its main product, was at record low prices. It was not uncommon for Standard Oil to undercut competitors to put them out of business. Consumers periodically benefited from this practice, however immoral.
Monopolies can often be the most efficient mechanism free enterprise systems have to offer.
Economists might theorize that anti trust law has served the public well. Standard Oil was divided into 10 oil companies that gave birth to Exxon, Mobil, Chevron and Amoco. From 1969 to 1981, trustbusters largely failed to subdue the IBM monopoly. Even if they had split IBM into independent companies, it's hard to imagine any real impact on consumers. The breakup of Ma Bell in the early '80s is one exception.