antitrust

The Federal Trade Commission is nearing a partial settlement with Google in its long-running antitrust investigation, according to reports today from Politico and Reuters.

Both outlets, citing sources familiar with the matter, said Google is prepared to agree not to use its patent war chest to block the sale of products it believes infringe on its intellectual property. The agreement would cover what are known as standard essential patents, which cover technology used in technical standards. (Reuters uses the example of a patent that ensures one brand of wireless phone can call another brand.)

Google has used those patents in … Read more

PARIS -- It began with a meeting this week between two Finns from Angry Birds maker Rovio Mobile and Neelie Kroes, the vice president of the European Commission's digital agenda. It ended with a jumble of politicians trying to learn what they could do to make Europe more economically vital in the digital age.

"Please skip the next appointment. I need more time with these guys," Kroes told her staff, then called vice ministers and other officials into the meeting. "In three hours we had a list to do for ourselves, and also for getting inspiration. … Read more

European antitrust authorities have imposed a series of fines against former producers of cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions and computer displays for "cartel" activity, amounting to 1.47 billion euros ($1.92 billion) in total.

The companies were charged under EU antitrust and competition law with fixing prices in the CRT television market -- a long-lived technology that was gradually replaced by alternatives such as liquid-crystal display (LCD) and plasma displays -- for a decade ending in 2006.

In a statement today, the European Commission said the companies artificially "fixed prices, shared markets, allocated customers between themselves and … Read more

Joshua Wright, a Federal Trade Commission nominee who is considered a Google ally, will reportedly vow to recuse himself from any cases involving the search giant for two years if his nomination is approved.

Wright, a law professor at George Mason University and the Obama administration's nominee to fill a Republican place on the FTC to replace retiring J. Thomas Rosch, is expected to make a statement to that effect during his confirmation hearing on the Senate Commerce Committee tomorrow, two sources told political site Politico.

Wright, who has already faced scrutiny for accepting academic research funds -- albeit … Read more

The U.S. and European officials leading separate antitrust investigations into Google are expected to meet next week in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Liebowitz is expected to meet with European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia on Monday to discuss a range of cases, including Google's, an EU official told The Journal.

The FTC has investigated a wide range of Google's business practices, focusing mostly on the way Google displays search results, which critics say favor the company's own services over those of its competitors. The U.S. trade agency is … Read more

Google's effort to persuade investigators that it hasn't violated antitrust laws may be reaching its final stages, with CEO Larry Page reportedly meeting with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission officials today in Washington.

Citing a person familiar with the discussions, Bloomberg reports that Page met with officials in the last days of a 19-month investigation into Google's business practices. The company has been having settlement talks with the FTC for "about a week," Google reported, and is resisting pressure to enter into a consent decree affecting Google's products.

The FTC has investigated a … Read more

The Federal Trade Commission may not have enough evidence of harm to consumers to proceed with an antitrust claim against the heart of Google's business, search, Bloomberg reported.

Google faces antitrust investigations from the U.S. FTC and from the European Commission, both going on for many months and both carrying the potential to wreak havoc with Google's search business. At the heart of the issue is whether Google gives unfair prominence to its own properties -- YouTube, Google Flight Search, Google Images, Google Shopping, Google Maps, and more -- at the expense of other businesses.

Regulators aren'… Read more

Tim Carter was blindsided when his home-improvement site AsktheBuilder.com fell out of favor with Google's search algorithm about 21 months ago. His daily ad revenue from Google AdSense crashed from $1,400 to $70.

"I have learned my lesson," Carter said. "Anybody who builds a business based on the whims of a search engine's algorithms -- that's a foolish thing to do."

This recrimination, mind you, is coming from a former Google advocate. In 2009, Google published an AdSense case study about his success, and Carter even testified before the U.S. Congress … Read more

Think of them as the good cop and the bad cop.

Two individuals hold central positions in Google's antitrust challenges from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the EU's European Commission. As the European commissioner for competition, Joaquin Almunia has tremendous influence over what happens to Google. And in the United States, George Mason University professor Joshua Wright is expected to get some influence soon as an incoming FTC commissioner.

They contrast sharply. Almunia has been highly critical of Google and how it's done business since becoming dominant in search. Wright, though, not only advocates minimal … Read more