The long-anticipated decision by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in the remedies phase of the Justice Department’s case against Google may go down as one of the most consequential antitrust opinions ever issued by a district court. Judge Mehta previously ruled in DOJ’s favor, finding that Google’s agreements with third-party browsers and Android manufacturers to make Google their default search engine were anticompetitive. And while he ultimately decided not to break up Google, DOJ is still claiming a win, so it’s important to parse the remedies he did impose. Did DOJ really get what it wanted? Are Judge Mehta’s remedies legally defensible, or will Google be able to scale back some of the relief on appeal? And what are the chances the remedies ultimately prove moot if Google prevails in its appeal on the merits of the earlier liability decision?
PPI’s Diana Moss joined ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy for a virtual panel to discuss this landmark decision, its implications for the future of search, and what it means for Google as its antitrust battles with the DOJ continue. Read more about the webinar here.
