On Monday, a federal judge ruled against search-engine giant Google in a landmark case that alleged the company acted illegally to keep a monopoly in search. The case has the potential to change how tech companies do business, as well as how their customers find answers to their online search queries.
“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
Neither Google nor the Justice Department immediately responded to a request for comment.
Mehta’s ruling did not include potential remedies for Google’s behavior, The New York Times reports. That is now up to Judge Mehta to decide and could force the company to change how it operates or even sell off part of the company.
It’s the first government-over-tech-company antitrust win since its historic victory over Microsoft in 1999. That case involved the so-called browser wars involving Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. While Microsoft lost that case, some aspects were overturned on appeal, leading eventually to a 2001 settlement.
The case focused on whether Google paid Apple and other companies to make its Google search engine the default on devices such as Apple’s iPhone. Google has said it did not maintain a monopoly through use of such agreements and that consumers could change their device defaults to use other search engines.
According to the Justice Department, the Google search engine is used for nearly 90 percent of web searches, but the company disputes that number, the Times reports.
The Sherman Antitrust Act dates back to 1890, and prohibits activities that restrict interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace, essentially, outlawing corporate monopolies. It’s considered the cornerstone of US antitrust legislation, dating back to the federal government’s breakup of late 19th century Gilded Age industrial giants.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
