Google offered its own proposal in a recent antitrust case filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Google must sell its Chrome browser..
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled in August. Google acted illegally. Sale of Chrome with DOJ to maintain monopoly on online search; It proposed several remedies, including spinning off its Android operating system and entering into exclusive search agreements with browser and phone companies.
Google An alternative proposal was submitted. Friday with Lee-Anne Mullholland, the company's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Asking in a blog post. The DOJ's proposal reflects an “intervention plan” that “actually goes beyond the court's discretion.”
Mulholland said, “The bigger issue is that the DOJ's proposal harms American consumers and undermines America's global technological leadership at a critical moment — forcing people to share their personal search queries with foreign and domestic competitors, limiting our ability to innovate and improve our products.”
As an alternative, It proposed that Google would still be allowed to enter into search agreements with companies such as Apple and Mozilla, but that they should have the option to set different defaults on different platforms (eg, iPhone and iPad) and in different browsing modes.
The company offers Android device makers the flexibility to pre-install multiple search engines as well as pre-install Google apps without the need for Google Search or Chrome.
Judge Mehta has scheduled a hearing in April and is expected to rule on remedies next year. Mulholland said Google not only plans to negotiate a remedy, but also plans to appeal Mehta's August ruling against the company. But she added, “Before we file our appeal, we need to outline the remedies that the parties will best respond to the court's decision.”