Google’s Anti-trust Law Suit in the U.S.

―― Focusing on the Complaint――

Abstract

On 20 October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice in conjunction with 11 states filed a Complaint against Google LLC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violations of the Sherman Act. Complaint alleges that Google is the monopoly in the markets of general search services, the search advertising, and the general search text advertising and that Google's conducts have resulted in maintenance of the monopoly power in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

On 18 July 2018, on the other side of the Atlantic, the European Commission issued a decision against Google's business model for Android OS and fined Google €4.3 billion. The decision found that Google was a monopoly in the market for licensing of smart mobile operating systems (Android OS market), the market for Android app stores, and the market for general search services and that its specified conducts had constituted violations of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union so as illegally to maintain and strengthen Google’s dominant position in the market for general search services.

The U.S. DOJ's suit against Google is in the middle of the pre-trial proceedings and has yet to begin a trial, so that Google's conducts enumerated in Complaint are still allegations by DOJ. This article is aimed to give an overview of Google's business doings in the specified markets through DOJ's Complaint, with a short review on anti-competitive issues related therein.