Justice Department Poised to Clear Google-Motorola Deal

The U.S. Justice Department is poised to clear Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, giving Google a powerful armory of technology patents to deploy in the smartphone wars.

EU Could Rule on Google Antitrust in March

An update on the European Competition Commission’s investigation of Google.
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News Byte

FTC Said to Be Looking at Google+

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expanding its antitrust investigation into Google to include Google+, Bloomberg reports. It’s a timely issue because Google+ was just deeply integrated into Google search this week, causing Twitter, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others to call foul. The FTC declined to comment.

South Korea Says Google Impeded Antitrust Probe

Google’s relationship with the South Korean government was never all that great to begin with, but now it seems to have slipped into a real downward spiral.
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LCD Makers Cough Up $538 Million to Settle Price-Fixing Charges

Seven major liquid-crystal display makers settle charges that they illegally conspired to fix prices of LCDs.
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Intel Antitrust Case Heads to State Court

Intel Corp.’s last major antitrust fight, against New York state officials, appears headed to state court after rulings by a federal judge in Delaware.

Google Working to Address Europe’s Concerns About Motorola Mobility Deal

You’d think European Union officials might have other things to worry about, but …
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DOJ to AT&T: We Can Play the Stalling Game, Too

And when it comes to the T-Mobile deal, time would seem to be on the government’s side, as both AT&T and T-Mobile would appear to want a deal sooner rather than later.
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Justice Department Confirms E-Book Probe

The U.S. Justice Department confirmed Wednesday that it is conducting an antitrust investigation into the pricing of electronic books, the latest antitrust watchdog to probe whether there was improper collusion by publishers and Apple Inc. to prevent discounting.

News Byte

Feds Formally Bless Google’s $400 Million Admeld Deal

The Department of Justice has formally approved Google’s $400 million Admeld deal without conditions. We told you about this on Monday. Next up for Google: Trying to get that $12.5 billion Motorola deal clear.