Google Antitrust

Google seeks to undo Fortnite-maker Epic Games antitrust win over App Store

Google said in a filing Wednesday that US District Judge James Donato's ruling is mistaken and asked that the outcome of the long-running litigation be set aside

Google loses final EU court appeal in $2.7 bn antitrust shopping case

The European Union's Court of Justice upheld a lower court's decision, rejecting the company's appeal against the 2.4 billion Euro ($ 2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission

US considers breaking up Google over online search monopoly: What it means

The US antitrust body has acknowledged Google's decade long domination on popular distribution channels, due to which its rivals have little-to-no incentive to compete

US considering potential divestment of business in Google's antitrust case

Google said it faces robust competition from Amazon and other sites where users go directly to search for goods or services, and that users can choose other search engines as their default

Google loses EU court appeal against 2.4 bn euro fine in antitrust case

Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine. The European Union's Court of Justice upheld a lower court's decision, dismissing the company's appeal against the 2.4 billion euro (USD 2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer. The commission's original decision in 2017 accused the Silicon Valley giant of unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry. Google made changes to comply with the commission's decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. The company started holding auctions for shopping search listings

Yelp sues Google in wake of antitrust ruling on monopolising search

A Google spokesperson said in a statement that the company would vigorously defend against Yelp's meritless claims

Brace for changes in app store as punishment for monopoly: Judge to Google

A federal judge has indicated he will order major changes in Google's Android app store to punish the company for engineering a system that a jury declared an illegal monopoly that has hurt millions of consumers and app developers. Over the course of a three-hour hearing in San Francisco, US District Judge James Donato on Wednesday made it clear that the forthcoming shake-up he is contemplating will probably include a mandate requiring Google's Play Store for Android phones offer consumers a choice to download alternative app stores Donato has been weighing how to punish the Google since last December when a jury declared the Play Store a monopoly following a four-week trial. The verdict centred on Google's nearly exclusive control over distribution of apps designed for Android phones and the billing systems for the digital commerce occurring within them -- a system that generates billions of dollars in annual revenue for the company. In protesting the judge's potential requirements

Google illegally maintains monopoly, rules US court: Here's what it means

A US court ruled that Google violated the country's antitrust laws with its search business by illegally holding a monopoly over search and text advertising

Google made payments worth $20 bn to Apple in 2022, court documents show

The deal between the two tech giants is at the heart of the landmark case, in which antitrust enforcers allege Google has illegally monopolised the market for online search and related advertising

Google postpones plan to phase out advertisement cookies in Chrome browser

Google said it hopes to eliminate third-party cookies early next year, provided it can come to an agreement with regulators

Google's ad-privacy changes not enough to protect consumer privacy: UK

Google plans to completely phase out the use of third-party cookies for users in the second half of 2024

TMSEp584: Coca Cola Lemon-Dou, Article370, thematic funds, Google antitrust

Why is Coca Cola eyeing the alcobev market? What was the significance of Article 370? Why are thematic funds gaining traction? Epic's antitrust win against Google explained. All answers here

Google's antitrust headaches compound with trial targeting Play Store

Google on Monday will try to protect a lucrative piece of its internet empire at the same time it's still entangled in the biggest US antitrust trial in a quarter century. The latest threat will unfold in a San Francisco federal court, where a 10-person jury will decide whether Google's digital payment processing system in the Play Store that distributes apps for phones running on its Android software has been illegally driving up prices for consumers and developers. The trial before US District Judge James Donato is scheduled to last until just before Christmas and include testimony from longtime Google executive Sundar Pichai, who is now CEO of the company's parent, Alphabet Inc. Pichai recently took the witness stand in Washington DC during an antitrust trial pitting Google's long-running dominance of internet search against the US Justice Department's attempt to undercut it on the grounds the the company has been abusing its power to stifle competition and innovation. The case

Alphabet to pay $40 million to Match to settle Google Play antitrust battle

Lawyers representing Match and Google said in a court filing Tuesday they've agreed to drop all claims and counterclaims against each other

Paid $26 billion to be default search engine, says Google's Raghavan

The amount of money Google has paid other companies for default status for its search engine has more than tripled since 2014, Raghavan said

Google changed ad auction formula in 2017, raising prices 15%, says witness

Google's advertising auctions require the winner to pay only a penny more than the runner-up

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai set to testify in Google Play antitrust trial

Pichai is also scheduled to testify in coming weeks in the ongoing Washington trial in a suit brought by the US Justice Department accusing Alphabet of maintaining a monopoly in web search

Ex-Googler's struggling search startup becomes antitrust cautionary tale

Taking the stand Monday in federal court in Washington, Neeva co-founder Sridhar Ramaswamy recalled how the company thought it could deliver a better search experience by charging consumers

Microsoft's Satya Nadella to testify at Google antitrust trial Monday

Last week, Microsoft business development executive Jonathan Tinter testified that the Redmond, Washington-based software giant failed to secure a deal to put its Bing search app on Apple's products

DoJ pushes ahead with antitrust case against Google, questions ex-employee

The US Justice Department pressed ahead with its antitrust case against Google on Wednesday, questioning a former employee of the search engine giant about deals he helped negotiate with phone companies in the 2000s. Chris Barton, who worked for Google from 2004 to 2011, testified that he made it a priority to negotiate for Google to be the default search engine on mobile devices. In exchange, phone service providers or manufacturers were offered a share of revenue generated when users clicked on ads. In the biggest antitrust case in a quarter century, the government is arguing that Google has rigged the market in its favour by locking in its search engine as the one users see first on their devices, shutting out competition and smothering innovation. Google counters that it dominates the internet search market because its product is better than the competition. Even when it holds the default spot on smartphones and other devices, it argues, users can switch to rival search engines