The US Federal Trade Commission is leaning towards a lawsuit over Google’s patent licensing practices, Bloomberg reports. According to anonymous sources, a report to the FTC commissioners formally recommended that it sue Google for antitrust violations, and a majority of the commissioners are in favor of the suit, though a final decision won’t be made until after the November 6th election. We already knew that the FTC report would probably recommend a lawsuit, but if these sources are correct, the suit itself is becoming more likely — though it’s still possible Google will settle or otherwise try to avoid legal action.
FTC in favor of suing Google for patent antitrust violations, says Bloomberg
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
The FTC has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation for the past year and a half, covering whether Google has abused its dominance in search, given preference to services like Google+, and used its Android platform to shut out competitors. This report, however, appears to involve patent licensing: the FTC has apparently decided that Google-owned Motorola was indeed abusing standards-essential patents in disputes with Apple and Microsoft. If a suit is announced soon, it will be a surprisingly quick decision in one of the FTC’s most recent investigations of Google.
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