Washington, Apr. 21, (dpa/GNA) – 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 Google’s monopoly on online searches.

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 by both sides regarding “remedies” on how to best fix the monopoly.

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

The Justice Department has demanded that Google end deals with other web browsers which have seen the company pay “billions” to competitors including Firefox and Apple to make Google their default search engine.

The US government also wants the judge to allow for the possibility to force Google to sell its mobile operating system Android in case competition is not restored.

Before Google can appeal in the previous case, finding it guilty of violating antitrust laws, the company has to wait for the conclusion of the remedies trial.

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,” according to Google, arguing that such a step is not justified by the alleged violations of antitrust laws.

GNA

PDC