The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly considering to sue the search engine company Google for violating the US antitrust law.
The five-member commission is in favour of suing Google for trying to block import of products manufactured by Microsoft, Apple into US claiming the devices infringe patents owned by its Motorola Mobility unit, sources told Bloomberg.
A Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: "We take our commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously and are happy to answer any questions."
Earlier this month, the US Federal Trade Commission investigators were said to be distributing a memo that recomends to sue the search engine giant Google for exploiting its domination in internet search, contravening the antitrust laws.
The FTC opened a formal investigation into the matter in June by seeking information from Microsoft and Apple about whether Google offered licensing for technology under patents which help operate 3G wireless, Wi-Fi and video streaming on reasonable terms.
The search engine had settled the charges with US law enforcement agencies in the past.
In July this year, Google paid $22.5m to settle the FTC charges for bypassing the privacy settings of customers using Apple’s Safari browser.
In August last year, Google had paid $500m to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its role in allowing online Canadian pharmacies to place advertisements through its AdWords program without verification.