WASHINGTON: The justice department has spent three years over two presidential administrations building the case that Google illegally abused its power over online search to throttle competition. To defend itself, Google has enlisted hundreds of employees and three powerful law firms and spent millions on legal fees and lobbyists.
On Tuesday, a judge in US district court for Columbia will begin considering their arguments at a trial that cuts to the heart of a long-simmering question: Did today’s tech giants become dominant by breaking the law?
The case is the US government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era. The trial moves the antitrust battle against those companies to a new phase, shifting from challenging their mergers and acquisitions to more deeply examining the businesses that thrust them into power. Any ruling could have broad ripple effects, slowing down or potentially dismantling the largest internet companies.
The stakes are particularly high for Google which grew into a $1.7 trillion giant by becoming the first place people turned to online to search the web. The government has said in its complaint that it wants Google to change its monopolistic business practices, potentially pay damages and restructure itself.
The case centers on whether Google illegally cemented its dominance and squashed competition by paying Apple and other firms to make its search engine default.
The trial is scheduled to last 10 weeks. Google CEO Sundar Pichai as well as executives from Apple and other tech companies will probably be called as witnesses. US judge Amit P Mehta, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, is presiding over the trial, which will not have a jury, and he will issue the final ruling.
On Tuesday, a judge in US district court for Columbia will begin considering their arguments at a trial that cuts to the heart of a long-simmering question: Did today’s tech giants become dominant by breaking the law?
The case is the US government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era. The trial moves the antitrust battle against those companies to a new phase, shifting from challenging their mergers and acquisitions to more deeply examining the businesses that thrust them into power. Any ruling could have broad ripple effects, slowing down or potentially dismantling the largest internet companies.
The stakes are particularly high for Google which grew into a $1.7 trillion giant by becoming the first place people turned to online to search the web. The government has said in its complaint that it wants Google to change its monopolistic business practices, potentially pay damages and restructure itself.
The case centers on whether Google illegally cemented its dominance and squashed competition by paying Apple and other firms to make its search engine default.
The trial is scheduled to last 10 weeks. Google CEO Sundar Pichai as well as executives from Apple and other tech companies will probably be called as witnesses. US judge Amit P Mehta, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, is presiding over the trial, which will not have a jury, and he will issue the final ruling.