FTC: Google does not violate antitrust laws

Google hasn't violated any antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday, but it has agreed to make some changes in how it treats its rivals as part of a settlement to end the 19-month investigation into its business practices.

The FTC's investigation focused on allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance in Internet search. Google's rivals say the company has been highlighting its own services on its influential results page while burying the links to competing sites.

Google Inc. has fiercely defended its right to recommend the websites that it believes are the most relevant.

The FTC said it voted unanimously to close the investigation on whether Google's algorithm unfairly favored itself because there was no evidence that Google violated antitrust laws.

"Although some evidence suggested that Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing the look and feel of its search results to highlight its own products was to improve the user experience," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said to reporters Thursday.

Google was also investigated for abusing patent protection against competitors like Apple. As part of the settlement, Google is agreeing to license patents deemed to be "essential" for rival mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad, regulators said.

Regulators say Google is also promising that upon request, it will exclude snippets copied from other websites in its summaries of key information, even though the company had insisted the practice is legal under the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

[hdc77494]

Big democratic party donors don't get hit with antitrust lawsuits. Heck GE even got a tax break in the cliff bill to avoid paying US taxes. The taxocrats are hard at work buying future votes with our money.

[sincity_q]

And herein lies the heart of the matter - Our representative government, no longer represents We The People, but those who support them through special interest pay offs.

This truth can be seen in the globalist agenda that has stripped the US and other western democracies of their industrial bases, and resulted in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Until we cease the red vs. blue political polarization... until we unite as a single voice to reclaim our nations, nothing will change.

[anyyname]

Figure out how and the entire country will follow you!

[GodmotherPower]

Google is the most transparent and ethical player in IT.
It is not a violation to be the best at what you do...making you more popular with consumers public, business, and private.
I love Google.
peaceby2027.com

[bobnjersey]

["Although some evidence suggested that Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing the look and feel of its search results to highlight its own products was to improve the user experience," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said to reporters Thursday]
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huh ... how does that improve the user's 'experience'?

[anyyname]

What, you didn't get a copy of the "Official Government Agency Guide to Press Release Misrepresentation"?

That explanation you highlighted was FTC codespeak for:

Geewiz, you Google guys are the greatest. We didn't know having all that money could buy that much fun. We especially enjoyed "Topless Tuesdays" while working with your team to clarify the misunderstanding that we had about your company. Don't worry about any more trade violation investigations. We certainly won't. The only business we'll be investigating is "TaTa's". Hope to see you there Tuesday. Don't forget to bring some more one dollar bills for "tips".

[iLikeTruth]

How come nobody ever talks about http://www.googleventures.com/ ? Investing money in online products/services, and notice how they all rank very well in Google Serps? Do some backlink research and find out for yourself they should not rank as good as many do.

[hdc77494]

When you have the same guys writing the algorithms and coding the web sites, that's what you get. Do you think Yahoo ever shows up first under search engines?

[Sax1031]

of course not. that donate generously to politicians.