Google search monopoly US case remedies to come by December

[September 07, 2024]  By Jody Godoy
 
(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice plans to issue an outline by December on what Alphabet's Google must do to restore competition after a judge earlier found the company illegally monopolized the market for online search, prosecutors said at a court hearing in Washington on Friday.

Google Bay View facilities, Mountain View, California, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo

Prosecutors did not detail what remedy they will propose, but Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist said it should be comprehensive and take into account how Google plans to integrate artificial intelligence into search.

Since the case was brought, Google has rebranded its Bard AI product to Gemini, Dahlquist said.

"What else are they thinking about? What else is beyond that?" he said at the hearing.

Prosecutors could seek to have Google divest certain business units, such as its Android mobile device operating system, or end billions of dollars in annual payments to smartphone makers and others to ensure that its search engine is the default on devices and browsers.

Google's attorney John Schmidtlein said at the hearing that the company needs a detailed proposal from prosecutors, and will likely seek information from Microsoft and OpenAI to prepare any counter-argument on AI search.

Google has said it plans to appeal the judge's ruling.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said he could hold a hearing in the spring and would like to rule by next August.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New YorkEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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