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The law doesn't often factor into discussions about IT markets, but the antitrust problems of Intel and Oracle could change that.

It might be wise to look past the economy and altogether overrated concept of innovation when considering what the IT landscape will look like a few years down the road. Increasingly, it looks like antitrust lawyers and federal judges will play just as large a part as those traditional market forces. The European Commission is holding up Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems amid concerns over the future of MySQL, and Intel – fresh off its record $1.45 billion fine by the European Union – just yesterday got served with an antitrust lawsuit being brought by the State of New York. How these situations play out could have vista-altering results in some major sectors.