FTC Plans To Sue Google Over Withholding Motorola Patents [REPORT]

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) could get into serious trouble. According to Bloomberg, the United States Federal Trade Commission may  sue the search engine giant because they were trying to stop their competitors from accessing technology patents from Motorola, a move that violated anti-trust laws.

Right now, the majority of the commissioners within the agency are ready to proceed with a lawsuit, however, the final decision shouldn’t be made until after November 6th.

The main issue is that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been blocking imports from the US, of products from rivals like Apple or Microsoft. They claim that the devices infringe on patents from Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (NYSE:MMI), which is now owned by Google.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) representative Niki Fenwick stated, “We take our commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously and are happy to answer any questions.”

The official case opened up last summer. The FTC started searching for info from their competitors, including Microsoft and Apple on ” whether Google offered licensing for technology under patents that help operate 3G wireless, Wi-Fi, and video streaming on fair and reasonable terms”, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.

The president of the American Antitrust Institute, Bert Foer reminds us, “There is a tough emerging attitude by antitrust regulators who’ve recognized that the failure to honor standard essential patent commitments needs to be treated much more severely than in the past. The agencies want to move this issue to the forefront by speaking out and tackling these high profile cases.”

The FTC still has quite a way to go if they choose to proceed with this case. There is some major concerns regarding some of Google’s business practices, most particularly the ones involving advertising, search, and mobile.  This case is most likely going to last for a long time.