Skip to main content

Google dodges FTC antitrust lawsuit with changes to search, patents, ads

Google has agreed to change a number of its search and advertising business practices as part of a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The agreement brings to close the agency’s years-long antitrust investigations of the search giant. The unsurprising settlement means Google will not be sued for antitrust violations, and is widely considered a “win” for the Internet company.

“The evidence the FTC uncovered through this intensive investigation prompted us to require significant changes in Google’s business practices. However, regarding the specific allegations that the company biased its search results to hurt competition, the evidence collected to date did not justify legal action by the Commission,” said Beth Wilkinson, outside counsel to the Commission, in a statement. “Undoubtedly, Google took aggressive actions to gain advantage over rival search providers. However, the FTC’s mission is to protect competition, and not individual competitors. The evidence did not demonstrate that Google’s actions in this area stifled competition in violation of U.S. law.”

Google’s FTC settlement, summed up

Patents: As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to allow competitors to use patents pertaining to smartphone, tablet, and computer technology that Google acquired in its acquisition of Motorola Mobility (PDF). Google has also agreed to drop all applicable patent lawsuits in U.S. federal courts and the International Trade Commission, and will attempt to settle future disputes over the use of its patents through out-of-court, third-party negotiations.

Ads: In separate letter of commitment to the FTC (PDF), Google agreed to make changes to its AdWords platform that will allow advertisers to more freely use competing advertising services. “Advertisers can already export their ad campaigns from Google AdWords,” wrote David Drummond, Google Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, on the company blog. “They will now be able to mix and copy ad campaign data within third-party services that use our AdWords API.”

Search: Finally, Google has agreed to allow websites to remove their content from Google commerce services, like Flights, Shopping, or Hotels, that may compete with their own businesses. Google promises to honor the requested opt-out within 30 days of receiving notice. Websites that choose to remove their content from Google’s aggregating services will still appear in Google’s standard search results, and those websites’ Page Ranks will not be affected by the opt-out, Google says.

In a statement, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that the “changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy.”

What Google’s changes mean for you

So, what does this all mean for us, the consumers and users? Well, not too much. Google services will probably become a bit less useful, with companies like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Expedia expected to pull the opt-out card. We’ll also likely see more smartphones and tablets that include technology controlled by Google (though many of us likely won’t even know it). And that’s about it.

In other words, this is a much bigger deal for Google (e.g. it avoided an antitrust lawsuit) and the FTC (it was able to say it did something to knock Google’s dominance down a notch).

Editors' Recommendations

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Google wants to make ads more useful by showing prices for services within them
google removes medical records podcasts play search 0001

It's about to get a whole lot easier to find the prices of goods and services through Google. The search giant is launching a change to its ads to show prices for services straight from search -- without having to click through to the website in question.

The new feature is called "price extensions," and it essentially shows a menu of a company's goods and services, along with how much they cost.

Read more
Look out, ads are coming to Google Images search results
google-office

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the news that Google is now including ads in its Images search results is that it didn't do it sooner.
It's true – the company that makes all its cash from search ads has until now included not a single sponsored message among its image results. But that's all changing.
The initiative is designed to tempt the shopper in you, so if, say, you do a Google image search on your smartphone for a coffee table, among those many pages of lovely photos of gorgeous tables you'll also see ads for them. These will link directly to a merchant's site, enabling you to part with your cash in just a couple of clicks. The merchant wins, you win ... oh, and Google wins, too.
The Mountain View company is hoping it'll further encourage online shoppers to hit its site when looking for a product rather than heading straight to, for example, Amazon to perform a search. Of course, buyers can also visit Google Shopping to search for a product, but including ads on Images offers an additional route to a possible sale.
Google says it's been making progress in encouraging more shopping searches on its mobile site, with inquiries increasing by a significant 30 percent in the past year.

"Whether they’re looking for a new sofa or the perfect pair of earrings, people who search and shop on their smartphones at least once a week say that product images are the shopping feature they turn to most," Google Shopping's Jonathan Alferness wrote in a post announcing the new feature.
For now, ads in image searches are for mobile only, though they'll likely also come to desktop in the near future. You'll spot them in a strip along the top of your smartphone screen beneath a "sponsored" sign, so in that way they'll stand out clearly from the regular results.
Besides ads in images, the Web giant is also improving the experience for online shoppers researching local retailers, allowing inventory checks directly within search so you'll know your journey won't be wasted if you go to collect in-store.

Read more
The FTC may once again go after Google for abusing search dominance
google

Google is constantly going through antitrust lawsuits in Europe, but it seems like the company may once again have to deal with them stateside. The FTC is reportedly asking questions about whether or not Google is abusing its dominance in the search market, suggesting that the agency may be looking to reopen an investigation that was closed three years ago.

According to a report from Politico, which cites "sources close to the matter," antitrust officials at the FTC have been in talks with executives at "a major U.S. company that objects to Google's practices." Despite the fact that talks seem to be in their early stages, the reports do show that perhaps Google isn't done with antitrust lawsuits just yet.

Read more