In a much
anticipated
move, Google settled the patent abuse and antitrust complaints
with the federal Trade Commission (FTS) of United States (US).
However, the antitrust probe initiated by the European Union (EU) is
still pending a resolution.
Various projections have revealed that Google,
Facebook, Samsung etc may face more scrutiny from EU and US
Regulators. As per Global
Taxation And Anti Competition Regulatory Issues In 2012 And
Projections Report For 2013 By Perry4Law, the year
2013 would see an enhanced regulatory scrutiny by various regulatory
bodies and authorities throughout the world. Countries are also
entering into bilateral treaties to make the respective companies
liable for their acts or omissions.
The report further states that as on date many
multinational companies and technology giants are avoiding tax
liabilities and are avoiding compliance with various regulatory
requirements. This would not be an easy task in the year 2013.
These predictions and projections seem very accurate
as many cases were settled in the year 2012. These include cases and
settlements pertaining to Walmart
probe, UK
tax avoidance case, unauthorised
sale of e-book in China, e-book
price escalation lawsuit, EU-publishers
e-books price fixing settlement, regulatory scrutiny
by EU and US, etc.
In the present case, FTC investigators were of the
opinion that they didn't find enough evidence to support complaints
that Google unfairly favors its own services in search results.
Google has also agreed to license certain patents to mobile phone
rivals and stop a practice of including snippets from other websites
in its search results.
To give effect to this settlement, Google will sign an agreement requiring the company to charge reasonable prices to license hundreds of patents deemed to be essential for rival mobile devices such as Apple Inc's iPhone, BlackBerry and smartphones running on a Microsoft Corp's Windows software.
Under the FTC resolution, Google's rivals will now be able to request that their excerpts are left out of Google's search results without having to fear that links to their sites will be penalised in Google's search rankings. Google has further agreed to adjust the online advertising system that generates most of its revenue so marketing campaigns can be more easily managed on rival networks.
