(Adds the actions at paragraph 10).
April 5 (Bloomberg) — the dominance of Google Inc. in the Internet search industry is envisaged for a broad antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission of the United States, two people familiar with the issue, said.Before a probe, the FTC is waiting for a decision by the Ministry of Justice on whether he will challenge planned acquisition from Google of ITA Software Inc. as a threat to competition in the sector of the travel information research, the people who spoke the condition of anonymity, said because the case is still confidential.An investigation of the FTC in Google engine to search most popular of the world "could be on foot" with the scope of the probe of the Ministry of Justice of Microsoft Corp. a decade, said Keith Hylton, a Professor of antitrust law at the Faculty of law at Boston University. Google "might beat the FTC, but is a lot of time and money."Liability part FTC and the Department of Justice for the monitoring of the application of the antitrust Act and the result of the ITA agreement may determine if the two organizations compete for control of a wider probe of Googlesaid the people. The two organizations sometimes negotiate who will handle large investigations antitrust decision turning on their respective expertise.The Department of Justice may soon announce his decision on the purchase of Google of ITA, said people familiar with the case.SupportFTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch of Commissioner said in an interview last month that he supported a probe of the dominant players in the industry of Internet research, without specifying which companies. Rosch, one of two Republicans to the commission of five members, is the only Commissioner say publicly that such an inquiry is in order.Those familiar with the matter said that any investigation of the research industry should concentrate on Google based in Mountain View, California, owner of the world's most popular search engine.If consumers do not like what the company, they can switch to another search engine, said Adam Kovacevich, a spokesman for Google. "" Competition as a click on the Internet, we are working hard to put the interests of users of our first and give them the best and most relevant responses to their requests, "he said in an e-mail. "We built Google for users, not Web sites".Actions Google has dropped by 0.5% in the equivalent of $582.92 in the German trade at 11: 28 in Frankfurt. Yesterday, the shares closed at $587.68 in the trade of Nasdaq Stock Market.Texas, EuropeCecelia Prewett, a spokesman for the FTC and Gina Talamona, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, has refused to comment on.Google faces scrutiny of regulators that it strengthens its research activities. Officials in Texas and the European Commission started investigations on the dominance of Google search, while Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is such a probe.The EU probe if examined discrimination Google other services in the results of research and websites ceased to accept a rival adds. A complaint of Microsoft last month may extend the investigation to online video and mobile phones.The State of Wisconsin is weighing an examination of bid for Google to buy Cambridge, ITA based in Massachusetts, which provides data for the sites of travel airline ticket fares online, according to a person familiar with the case. ' Overdue' long Lawmakers, including Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, urged the Sub-Committee Senate Judiciary on antitrust to hold a hearing on the dominance of Google for Internet companies.Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, who heads the Group of experts, said that it examines Google. "An investigation is long, said Gary Reback, counsel of Google antitrust with Carr & Ferrell LLP, Menlo Park, California, who represents the companies who complained to regulators here and in Europe. "Every day there are companies that are to be injured by anti-competitive behaviour of Google and we still have the iron arm going on in Washington", he said in an interview yesterday.It is not known if the Ministry of Justice or the FTC would manage such an inquiry, because the two organizations could claim experience review of Google enterprises, said Robert Lande, Professor of law at the University of Baltimore.AdMob PurchaseThe FTC has acquired the knowledge of the inner workings of Google in its review the purchase of AdMob Inc. company $ 750 million. The Agency has approved the acquisition last year.In 2007, the Agency has approved acquisition of DoubleClick Inc.It possible Google the FTC, which handles consumer protection issues, could launch a probe to examine allegations of deception by Google, entering a broad antitrust investigation, says of the Lande.Le 30 March, Google agreed to settle the FTC contends that using tactics deceptive and violated its own policies for the protection of personal information when it introduced the social networking service Buzz last year.Last month, Rosch said that if the FTC opens an investigation on industry research and decides to bring a case, it could rely on the authority to reach a settlement with Intel Corp. last year.Intel casein Intel case, the FTC has invoked article 5 of the Act that created the Agency in 1914 to challenge practices "unfair or deceptive", ranging beyond what is expressly prohibited by other federal antitrust laws.The use of the ability of article 5 and the FTC to manage its affairs through its own administrative processes instead that necessarily go to court, as the Department of Justice must, would make it easier for the FTC Sue Google, said Herbert Hovenkamp, Professor at the University of Iowa College of the Ministry of Justice Law.The has also experience in the review of the business practices of Google.Depuis July, the Ministry of Justice went through proposed acquisition of Google's CambridgeITA based in the Massachusetts.Dans the framework of this review, the Department may decide to impose restrictions on Google, approve the agreement outright or challenge in the Court, said of the Lande.Le Department could also decide to classify a broader antitrust case, doing an unnecessary FTC probe, which is "very unlikely" that Heath saidThe Ministry in November 2008, threatened to sue Google on its alliance with Yahoo! Inc. Google demolished an agreement to place ads on Yahoo. "When Microsoft was truly dominate the market, Google complained there was a violation of antitrust law,"said Christopher Tang, Professor of business administration at the University of California at Los Angeles." "And now Google becomes more dominant in the space of people search Google entering market place too are concerned.".-With the help of Jun Yang in Seoul. Editors: Fred Strasser, Anthony Aarons
To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net. Sara Forden in Washington to sforden@bloomberg.net
To contact the responsible editors of this story: Mark Silva in msilva34@bloomberg.net; Michael Hytha to the mhytha@bloomberg.net
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