“Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is warning the Federal Trade Commission that a lawsuit against Google would be disastrous and could prompt Congress to limit the agency’s authority,” Brendan Sasso reports for The Hill.
“‘I believe that application of anti-trust against Google would be a woefully misguided step that would threaten the very integrity of our anti-trust system, and could ultimately lead to Congressional action resulting in a reduction in the ability of the FTC to enforce critical anti-trust protections in industries where markets are being distorted by monopolies or oligopolies,’ Polis wrote in a letter sent last week to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and obtained by The Hill on Monday,” Sasso reports. “Polis argued that the market for online search is already fiercely competitive. He noted that customers search Amazon for shopping results, iTunes for music and movies, Facebook for social networking and Yelp for local businesses.”
Sasso reports, “The FTC is nearing the end of a sweeping antitrust investigation into Google’s business practices. People familiar with the case say the commissioners are leaning toward taking action against the company. The agency is investigating whether Google manipulates its search results to ensure that its own services, such as YouTube, Google Maps and Google Plus, appear above those of its rivals.”
MacDailyNews Note: Teh FTC is also investigating Google for FRAND abuse or using standards-essential patents to sue Apple as retribution for Apple’s design patent infringement lawsuits against Android.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jax44” for the heads up.]
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