A federal judge has ruled that Google violated US antitrust law through its dominant search business practices. Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia determined that Google has been operating as a monopolist to maintain its market dominance.

Photo Credit: Pawel Czerwinski

The court found that Google's strategy of securing default search engine placement through distribution contracts with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers has given the company an unfair advantage over competitors. These contracts, particularly with companies like Apple, involved billions of dollars in payments to maintain Google's position as the default search engine.

Key points from the ruling:

• Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act
• The company's default distribution agreements created an "extremely valuable real estate" in the search market
• Google's monopolistic position led to anticompetitive behavior and higher search advertising prices
• The ruling does not address Google's search ads monopoly, which is part of a separate lawsuit

This decision represents the first major federal ruling in recent US government antitrust lawsuits against tech companies, drawing comparisons to the landmark U.S. v. Microsoft case from 25 years ago. A separate proceeding will determine Google's penalties, though the company is expected to appeal the decision.

The ruling follows another recent legal setback for Google, where a federal jury in California found the company's app store operations to be an illegal monopoly. The full impact of these decisions may take months or years to materialize as legal proceedings continue.

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