Google lost its case after a federal judge ruled that the company had violated the U.S. antitrust law due to its illegal search engine dominance.
The decision was issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, which came after almost a year of trial between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Google.
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US Court Finds Google Guilty of Monopolizing Internet Search
The trial reviewed evidence and testimony from tech giants Google, Apple, and Microsoft last year for around 10 weeks. The decision came three months after both sides presented their closing arguments last May.
"After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling.
The judge cited that the company specifically violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Google has been monopolizing the general search industry by claiming 89.2% of the market, which eventually ballooned to 94.9% on mobile devices.
Google to Appeal Federal Judge's Ruling
Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, stated that the tech giant plans to appeal Mehta's findings. He emphasized that the ruling acknowledged that the company offers the best search engine.
He also highlighted that while the ruling knows that Google has the best search engine performance, the decision only stated that it "shouldn't be allowed to make it easily available."
The company also argued that customers have the power to switch their search engines once they become unsatisfied with the results they are getting. Google cited how people transitioned out of Yahoo after years of familiarity with its search engine.
The ruling could potentially affect the availability of Google's search engine in the future and might also require the company to pay a monetary fine.
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