FTC May Be Close To Decision In Google Antitrust Review

It may not be long before Google finds itself being taken to court by the FTC, as new reports are claiming that the FTC is nearing a decision about whether or not it wants to hit Google with a lawsuit. Mercury News claims that a decision could come before the end of the year, and if the FTC decides that it want to take Google to trial, it could mean bad things for the search giant. Specifically, Google could be forced to part with some of its services, either being forced by the FTC to shut them down or sell them off.

For those not in the know, the FTC has been looking at claims that peg Google with anti-competitive behavior. According to some of Google's competitors, the big G has been giving its own services precedence over their services in search results. That, obviously, has Google's competitors upset, which is why the FTC launched an investigation that has now lasted 18 months. Google has also had to deal with claims that it isn't being fair in licensing out Motorola's standard-essential patents.

Google's fate may not be as grim as the one suggested above, however, as the FTC could simply force Google to change its search results so that the listings more clearly show what's being offered by Google and what isn't. Google continues to claim that it has done nothing wrong, but ultimately, that will be up to the FTC. Shutting down services certainly isn't something Google wants to do, so it's pretty easy to understand why Google has been fighting these claims.

Whatever's actually going on behind the scenes, we should have the FTC's decision at least relatively soon. If the commission's decision on whether or not to take Google to court is really coming up before the end of the year, then things should be ramping up (or alternatively dying down) pretty quick. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear for more information.