The Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued that Google’s monopoly over the search market has delayed the release of innovative technology, such as chatbot ChatGPT. This argument was presented to the federal court after Microsoft Corp. declared that it would incorporate OpenAI’s AI-powered chat technology for its Bing search engine. In reaction, Google announced its own conversational AI product, according to Kenneth Dintzer, lead lawyer of the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google’s search giant.
Competition would have allowed for the release of these technologies earlier, Dintzer explained. However, for the past 12 years, Google has “maintained its monopoly” on the industry.
Google has requested a federal judge to throw out two antitrust cases brought by the DOJ and state attorneys general before a scheduled trial in September. The DOJ and a group of states separately sued in 2020, claiming that Google’s deals with Apple Inc. and smartphone manufacturers to be the default search engine violate antitrust laws.
Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlein conceded that their agreements with Apple Inc. and smartphone manufacturers give the company “an advantage,” yet this does not go against antitrust laws. Schmidtlein argued that Google’s default status has not stopped other companies from creating their own search engines.
Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing both of the lawsuits, questioned Google about the impact of the preloaded agreements on the search engine. Mehta noticed the role of competition in releasing these technologies sooner.
It is worth noting that Google has entered a contract with Apple to be the default search engine on its Safari browser in 2003 when it was still among the many search engines and Apple’s Mac computers used to be a meager portion of the market.
The DOJ’s lawyer Dintzer pointed out that Google does not need to be paying billions of dollars for the default position simply because the consumers want it. Google must eliminate the agreement if it has secured a monopoly. This would then allow competitors to bid for browser and mobile device access.
Mehta will most likely hand his ruling this summer. It is possible that he might narrow the cases or reject them altogether.
Google is an America-based multinational technology company that specializes in internet-related services and products. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google has since developed life-changing products such as Google search engine, Google Ads, Google Glass and Gmail. It has grown to become the largest search engine in the world, with an estimated 92% market share.
Kenneth Dintzer is the lead lawyer for the Justice Department in its antitrust case against Google. He received his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2005. Dintzer has expertise in antitrust, IP and licensing/distribution matters, and has conducted internal investigations for large companies. Dintzer is currently based in the firm’s San Jose office.
