[h=3]By BRENT KENDALL And AMIR EFRATI[/h]WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday closed its lengthy antitrust investigation of Google Inc. without bringing major charges, instead accepting the Internet search giant's offer to make voluntary changes to its search practices.
The FTC said Google has agreed to agreed to give online advertisers more flexibility to manage ad campaigns with rival websites, and it said the company will take steps to refrain from "misappropriating" online content from rivals.
In a related matter, Google agreed to a settlement resolving FTC charges that the company was stifling competition by misusing key mobile-device patents it acquired when it bought handset maker Motorola Mobility.
In the patent settlement, Google agreed that it would grant fair and reasonable licenses to mobile-device competitors whose products use essential wireless technologies that are covered by Google's patents. The settlement also requires that Google not use its key patents to seek court injunctions that would block the sale of competitor products.
The FTC said the comprehensive settlement with Google was agreed on a bipartisan basis, with votes of 4-1 and 5-0 in favor.
The FTC has spent the better part of two years examining whether Google abused its dominant position in Internet search to favor its own products and services at the expense of competitors. Thursday's resolution is likely to come as a significant disappoint to Microsoft Corp. and other technology firms that pushed the FTC to bring a broad antitrust case against Google, similar in scope to the landmark case the Justice Department brought against Microsoft in the 1990s.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at a news conference that the evidence didn't support the FTC taking such a broad action.
David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said in a post on the company's blog: "The conclusion is clear: Google's services are good for users and good for competition."
European antitrust officials also have been investigating Google and are expected to extract more extensive and binding commitments from the company as part of any legal settlement there. Europe's regulators face less constraints on their antitrust authority, and Google has an even larger market share on the Web-search market in Europe than in the U.S.
FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch dissented from some of the commission's actions. "[A]fter promising an elephant more than a year ago, the Commission instead has brought forth a couple of mice," he said in his dissent.
Write to Brent Kendall at [email protected] and Amir Efrati at [email protected]
The FTC said Google has agreed to agreed to give online advertisers more flexibility to manage ad campaigns with rival websites, and it said the company will take steps to refrain from "misappropriating" online content from rivals.
In a related matter, Google agreed to a settlement resolving FTC charges that the company was stifling competition by misusing key mobile-device patents it acquired when it bought handset maker Motorola Mobility.
In the patent settlement, Google agreed that it would grant fair and reasonable licenses to mobile-device competitors whose products use essential wireless technologies that are covered by Google's patents. The settlement also requires that Google not use its key patents to seek court injunctions that would block the sale of competitor products.
The FTC said the comprehensive settlement with Google was agreed on a bipartisan basis, with votes of 4-1 and 5-0 in favor.
The FTC has spent the better part of two years examining whether Google abused its dominant position in Internet search to favor its own products and services at the expense of competitors. Thursday's resolution is likely to come as a significant disappoint to Microsoft Corp. and other technology firms that pushed the FTC to bring a broad antitrust case against Google, similar in scope to the landmark case the Justice Department brought against Microsoft in the 1990s.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at a news conference that the evidence didn't support the FTC taking such a broad action.
David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said in a post on the company's blog: "The conclusion is clear: Google's services are good for users and good for competition."
European antitrust officials also have been investigating Google and are expected to extract more extensive and binding commitments from the company as part of any legal settlement there. Europe's regulators face less constraints on their antitrust authority, and Google has an even larger market share on the Web-search market in Europe than in the U.S.
FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch dissented from some of the commission's actions. "[A]fter promising an elephant more than a year ago, the Commission instead has brought forth a couple of mice," he said in his dissent.
Write to Brent Kendall at [email protected] and Amir Efrati at [email protected]