Among the key parts of the FTC agreement with Google is that the search company will end some past business practices that could stifle competition in the markets for popular devices such as smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles, as well as the market for online search advertising, according to the agency. Under a binding settlement with the FTC, Google will allow competitors access “on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms to patents on critical standardized technologies needed to make popular devices such as smartphones, laptop and tablet computers, and gaming consoles,” the FTC reported.
Google was first notified by the FTC of a “formal review” of its business practices in June 2011 after similar reviews began in Europe. At that time, the European Commission launched an investigation into the company’s search practices after vertical European search engines such as Foundem, eJustice.fr and Microsoft’s Ciao complained the company favoured its own Web services in search results on Google.com over theirs. They argued that this put them at a significant competitive disadvantage in the market.
Google denied all such allegations at that time, noting that its search algorithms analyse Website quality and popularity based on links for placement as part of its PageRank system.
In July, Google reached a record $22.5 million (£14.2m) settlement with the FTC to resolve charges that Google bypassed Apple Safari browser privacy settings that blocked cookies for their users. The settlement was criticised in a statement by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry group, as “a dangerously overbroad precedent that will chill Internet innovation and hurt online startups.”
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Originally published on eWeek.
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