Google may be facing antitrust heat from the FTC. Image: s_falkow/Flickr
Evidently not all patent disputes are created equal. Bloomberg is reporting today that staff at the Federal Trade Commission have formally recommended that the federal government open an antitrust suit against Google. Citing four unnamed sources, the report says the FTC commissioners are inclined to follow the recommendation, though a final decision is likely still days away.
The issue seems to be utility patents owned by Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, and whether Google offered licensing for industry-standard technology covered by those patents or simply used them to block competitive hardware from rivals like Microsoft and Apple.
This would differ from Apple’s design-patent lawsuit against Samsung. That case hinged primarily on design patents. The Google situation appears to be over utility patents for technology tied to how 3G wireless, Wi-Fi and video streaming work on mobile devices. Holders of such patents have to offer licensing options under “fair and reasonable terms.” The question here, apparently, is whether or not Google did that.
More on this as it develops.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/report-google-facing-possible-ftc-antitrust-lawsuit/
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