Google faces antitrust lawsuit on U.S. mobile internet
search
May 2, 2014 6:31 AM
(Reuters) - Consumer rights law firm Hagens Berman said
it filed a nationwide antitrust class-action lawsuit against Google Inc
alleging the company "illegally monopolized" the Internet and mobile
search market in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that Google has expanded its monopoly
of the internet search market by pre-loading its applications onto Android
mobile devices through its Mobile Application Distribution Agreements.
According to the lawsuit, Google's role in placing this
suite of apps, including Google Play and YouTube, has hampered the market and
kept the price of devices made by competing manufactures like Samsung
Electronics and HTC Corp artificially high.
Google said Android and Google can be used independent of
each other.
"Anyone can use Android without Google and anyone
can use Google without Android. Since Android's introduction, greater
competition in smartphones has given consumers more choices at lower
prices," Matt Kallman, a Google spokesman, told Reuters.
Steve Berman, the attorney representing consumers, alleged
that Google had not achieved its monopoly by offering a better search engine,
but through anti-competitive placement and market manipulation.
The case is in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, 5:14-cv-02007-HRL.
(Reporting by Arnab Sen in Bangalore; Editing by
Gopakumar Warrier)
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