Google’s Motorola Deal Will Spur Antitrust Regulators to Action

To say that Google is going to face some opposition to its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility is what you might call a bit of an understatement.

First of all, the deal will give a lot of fresh meat to the Federal Trade Commission, which is already investigating several aspects of Google’s business, including its Android mobile operating system business. The offices of several state attorneys general will also want to weigh in. The AGs in New York, California, Ohio and Texas have all ramped up inquiries into Google’s dominance of the search business. Also in the mix is the European Commission. Google is clearly sharpening its arguments for the coming fight. In the company’s official blog post announcing the deal, CEO Larry Page said Google will continue to work with other hardware companies on Android. The company says it works with 39 different manufacturers that build Android devices. But he also renewed a recent Google complaint that other companies are banding together to hurt Android by accumulating a pool of patents owned by Novell. The biggest question will focus on whether or not a Google-owned Motorola will get preferential access to new versions of Android before other manufacturers. Whatever happens, it’s going to take Google some time to get this deal done, and if it does get approved, you can expect some significant regulatory concessions.