FTC May Recommend Antitrust Suit Against Google

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Google is reportedly facing antitrust allegations over restricted access to smartphone patents the company owns.

According to an article published by Bloomberg, a "majority" of the FTC's five commissioners may recommend a lawsuit against Google sometime after the presidential election on November 6. Apparently, there are mounting concerns that Google is using patents it acquired with the purchase of Motorola to block the import of products made by Apple and Microsoft.

While the FTC declined to comment on the report, Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick stated that Google takes its "commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously" and would be willing to answer "any questions". It appears that the U.S. government may be cracking on an industry that is currently focused on using lawsuits as a critical measure to compete in the U.S. market place. Bloomberg noted that the Department of Justice will be investigating Samsung's claims of industry-standard patent claims, while the FTC zeroes in on Google's Motorola Mobility unit.

Google is currently estimated to hold about 75 percent of the smartphone platform market.

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Wolfgang Gruener
36 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jhansonxi
    Blocking the imports of competitors is bad for consumers, unlike patent trolling against OEMs.

    /sarcasm
    Reply
  • ironmb
    It's tough being on top, everyone wants a cut.
    Reply
  • Camikazi
    Wait hasn't Apple been trying to ban Samsung and HTC products pretty much world-wide with lawsuits already? Why check on Google when Apple was doing it first?
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    FTC, if you really think Google is the only one playing the patent game...

    You need to stop living underneath a rock. The entire tech business is a patent warzone.
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    So Google faces antitrust allegations because it "blocks the import of products made by Apple and Microsoft."

    Google commands 75% of the market on a product it gives away for free and until recently was on Apple's own hardware. Google only filed suit againt Apple because apparently that's the only way they'll talk to any other company.

    Apple on the other hand constantly tries to block products and filed a 2 billion suit against Samsung. On top of that they remove any competition from the Istore. Why aren't they doing anything about that?

    PS I would make fun of MS but they don't try to block products like Apple, they're market share is tiny, and they're open to everyone (they're not as draconian as Apple).
    Reply
  • Kami3k
    Looks like who ever is trying to do this in the FTC needs to be fired for being paid off by Apple.

    Why else would the FTC go after a company for merging with another company when it was approved BY THE SAME GOVERNMENT! And go after Google and not Apple when it actively crushes competition through legal means.
    Reply
  • abbadon_34
    you know Al Gore is on the Board of Director's of Apple...political coincidence?
    Reply
  • jojesa
    Google did not ki$$ FTC a$$ with caSh...like Apple.
    Reply
  • idono
    Are they fucking kiding!?!?!
    Is the FTC populated by idiots? How can they have missed the fact that Apple has been doing that openly for years now!
    Reply
  • Pinhedd
    CamikaziWait hasn't Apple been trying to ban Samsung and HTC products pretty much world-wide with lawsuits already? Why check on Google when Apple was doing it first?
    The patents that Apple is leveraging are utility and design patents. They cover simple features that aren't required for the device to operate according to industry standards. They may be bullshit and of skeptical validity, but they're not standard-essential. The patents that Google and Samsung are using against Apple include so called standard-essential patents which are subject to significantly more oversight.
    Reply