GOOGLE BREAKUP CASE OPENS IN US, GOVT CALLS FOR SALE OF CHROME

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Bernama-dpa) -- A trial of internet giant Google opened in Washington on Monday with the Justice Department asking for the company to be forced to sell its Chrome browser to break up its monopoly on online searches, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

During its opening statement, the government called on Judge Amit Mehta to set an example for companies violating antitrust laws, the New York Times reported from the courtroom.

It comes after Mehta ruled in August that Google holds a monopoly on online searches and violated antitrust laws to maintain it.

In the new trial, the judge is to hear arguments from both sides regarding "remedies" on how to fix the monopoly.

Google has already said it plans to appeal. The government is also calling for the company to be forced to provide data from its search engine to competitors.

The Justice Department has demanded that Google end deals in which the company paid "billions" to competitors such as Firefox and Apple to make Chrome their default search engine.

The US government is also seeking to convince the court to require Google to sell its mobile operating system Android, in case competition is not restored.

Google has to wait for the conclusion of the remedies trial before it can appeal the previous case that found it guilty of violating antitrust laws.

Google has argued that the government's demands will harm innovation and consumers by forcing them to use less-efficient search engines.

Forcing the company to divest Chrome would "carry devastating consequences" and is not justified by the alleged violations of antitrust laws, according to Google.

-- BERNAMA-dpa