The dramatic courtroom battle over Google’s monopoly has concluded, but the war is not over. It has simply moved to a new venue: the negotiation table. With a tight deadline of September 10, lawyers for Google and the Department of Justice are now locked in intense discussions to hammer out the fine print of the judge’s ruling.
The verdict delivered by Judge Amit Mehta was more of a framework than a detailed blueprint. It established broad principles: no more exclusivity deals, some form of data sharing, and continued payments for default placement. Now, the real-world implementation of these principles must be defined.
This is where the devil will be in the details. What specific user data will Google have to share? How will it be anonymized? What will the new, non-exclusive contracts look like? Can Google offer volume discounts that effectively still create exclusivity? These are the thorny questions that must be answered in the next six days.
This negotiation phase is just as critical as the trial itself. A remedy that is strong on paper could be weakened by loopholes and exceptions during this process. The final document they produce—or their list of disagreements if they fail to align—will determine the true, long-term impact of this historic antitrust case.