Federal Judge Rules Google Search an Illegal Monopoly
David McCabe, reporting for The New York Times:
Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a
federal judge ruled on Monday, a landmark decision that
strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and
that may fundamentally alter the way they do business.
Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a
monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and
states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its
dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and
Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically
handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its
monopoly,” Judge Mehta said in his ruling. […]
Monday’s ruling did not include remedies for Google’s behavior.
Judge Mehta will now decide that, potentially forcing the company
to change the way it runs or to sell off part of its business.
It’s worth a reminder that under U.S. antitrust law, having a monopoly is not in and of itself illegal. It’s just that monopolies must operate under different rules, and Mehta has rules that Google broke (and continues now to break) those rules.
And you don’t have to be an expert to know that Google Search is a monopoly. By market share it’s possibly the biggest monopoly in all of computing today. Maybe it’s still Windows, but most estimates peg the Mac’s share of the U.S. PC market at about 15 percent. I wouldn’t be surprised if fewer than 10 percent of Americans even know there exist search engines other than Google, let alone use one as their default.
What the remedies should — or even could — be for Google here, I don’t know. Microsoft lost a similarly huge antitrust case in the U.S. in the 1990s and effectively escaped unscathed.
See also: Techmeme’s roundup of coverage and commentary.
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David McCabe, reporting for The New York Times:
Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a
federal judge ruled on Monday, a landmark decision that
strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and
that may fundamentally alter the way they do business.
Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a
monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and
states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its
dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and
Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically
handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its
monopoly,” Judge Mehta said in his ruling. […]
Monday’s ruling did not include remedies for Google’s behavior.
Judge Mehta will now decide that, potentially forcing the company
to change the way it runs or to sell off part of its business.
It’s worth a reminder that under U.S. antitrust law, having a monopoly is not in and of itself illegal. It’s just that monopolies must operate under different rules, and Mehta has rules that Google broke (and continues now to break) those rules.
And you don’t have to be an expert to know that Google Search is a monopoly. By market share it’s possibly the biggest monopoly in all of computing today. Maybe it’s still Windows, but most estimates peg the Mac’s share of the U.S. PC market at about 15 percent. I wouldn’t be surprised if fewer than 10 percent of Americans even know there exist search engines other than Google, let alone use one as their default.
What the remedies should — or even could — be for Google here, I don’t know. Microsoft lost a similarly huge antitrust case in the U.S. in the 1990s and effectively escaped unscathed.
See also: Techmeme’s roundup of coverage and commentary.