- The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general on Tuesday will begin a blockbuster antitrust trial in Washington, alleging that Alphabet's Google unlawfully abused its dominance in the search-engine market to maintain monopoly power.The U.S. and its state allies contend Google unlawfully stifled competition by paying billions of dollars to Apple and other business partners to ensure its search engine would be the default on most phones and web browsers.
The agreements did not prevent rivals from developing their own search engines or stop companies such as Apple and Mozilla from promoting them, Google argues. The Justice Department has the burden to show that Google's business deals harmed competition for search. Google will have its own chance at the non-jury trial, after the government makes its case, to argue its deals benefit consumers.The U.S. and state allies are not seeking a monetary penalty, but rather an injunction barring Google from continuing the alleged anticompetitive practices.
The case is widely seen as one of the biggest challenges to tech industry power since the DOJ sued Microsoft in 1998 over its market dominance for personal computers. The trial court in that case found Microsoft unlawfully tried to block rival browser Netscape Navigator. Microsoft later reached a settlement that left the company intact.
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