FairSearch Statement: FairSearch Highlights Potential Remedy Concerns

Regarding reports that Google may be suggesting licensing conditions to the Justice Department in a bid to avoid litigation, FairSearch issued the following statement over the weekend:

“Even if Google commits in a court order to license the best flight search technology, serious concerns would remain about the ability to administer and enforce such an order, and the potential for Google to circumvent it without detection.   Moreover, such an order would not address other threatened harms from Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA.  For example, Google also could abuse its general search dominance to steer users to its own or favored flight search products and could take proprietary technology developed by ITA licensees that resides on ITA servers.  The members of FairSearch.org continue to believe that the best way to protect consumers and competition from these and other threats is for the DOJ to block the deal and require Google to expand its travel search offerings through a less harmful means.”

Members of FairSearch.org include Expedia Inc., and its brands Expedia.com, Hotwire and TripAdvisor; Farelogix Inc.; Foundem; KAYAK, and its brand SideStep; Level…com; Microsoft; and Sabre Holdings, and its brands Travelocity and ZUJI.