By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) – Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) Google on Friday proposed easing its agreements with Apple (NASDAQ:) and others to make Google the default search engine on new devices to counter a U.S. ruling that the company Search illegally dominated.
The proposal is much narrower than the government’s attempt to force Google to sell its Chrome browser over online search in the antitrust case.
Google urged U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington to tread carefully in deciding what the company must do to restore competition after he ruled that the company had an illegal monopoly on online search and related advertising owns.
While Google plans to appeal that ruling at the end of the trial, the company says the upcoming “remedial” phase should focus on its distribution agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers and wireless carriers.
The judge found that the agreements give Google a “large, largely invisible advantage over its competitors” and result in most devices in the US coming pre-installed with Google’s search engine.
The agreements were difficult to end, the judge said, especially for Android manufacturers, who must agree to install Google Search in order to include Google’s Play Store on their devices.
To fix that, Google could make them non-exclusive and unbundle its Play Store from Chrome and Search for Android phone makers, the company said in court papers.
Unlike the government’s proposal, Google would not end revenue-sharing agreements, in which a portion of the advertising revenue Google earns from search users is passed on to the device and software companies that present Google as the default search engine.
Independent (LON:) Browser developers, including Mozilla, maker of Firefox, have said the funds are critical to their operations. In 2022 alone, Apple received an estimated $20 billion from the agreement with Google.
Google’s proposal sets the stage for a trial that Mehta will hold in April. In doing so, the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states will seek to demonstrate the need for far-reaching remedies, including requiring Google to sell Chrome and possibly its Android mobile operating system.
Prosecutors also want Google to stop paying to become the default search engine, stop investing in search competitors and query-based artificial intelligence products, and license its search results and technology to rivals.
Prosecutors say the proposals are aimed at spurring innovation in online search, where Mehta noted that Google’s overwhelming market share prevents rivals from collecting the search data they need to improve their products. Prosecutors also want to prevent Google from expanding its search dominance to include AI.
