Washington – The Department of Justice and Google will submit their final requests to a federal judge on what remedies he should approve in response to his finding that Google illegally maintained its search monopoly.
Last year U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found Google’s agreements to pay other companies for prominent placement of its search service are exclusionary and anticompetitive. The DOJ and Google met this week according to news reports to discuss various remedies. In previous proposals, the DOJ has suggested various remedies that could go as far as breaking up a number of Google’s services, going far beyond the scope of Judge Mehta’s ruling.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has advocated for competition in the tech industry for more than 50 years, having aligned with the DOJ in past cases, including the IBM, AT&T and Microsoft matters.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President Matt Schruers:
“It is concerning that Google could be penalized for engaging in the same business practices used by brands to prominently display their products on the end of a grocery aisle. At a time when U.S. digital services are in a fierce global competition for technology leadership, structural remedies that weaken US companies are not wise and risk handing an economic advantage to adversaries abroad.”
