Google 2011 Annual Report Download - page 104

Legal Matters
Antitrust Investigations
On June 23, 2011, we received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s
(FTC) Bureau of Competition and a subpoena from FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection relating to a review by
the FTC of our business practices, including search and advertising. State attorneys general from the states of
Texas, Ohio, and Mississippi have issued similar CIDs. We are cooperating with the FTC and the state attorneys
general and responding to their information requests.
The European Commission’s (EC) Directorate General for Competition has also opened an investigation into
various antitrust-related complaints against us. On February 10, 2010, we received notification from the EC about
three antitrust complaints filed by Ciao, Ejustice, and Foundem, respectively. On November 30, 2010, the EC
formally opened proceedings against us. Since November 2010, 1plusV, parent company of Ejustice, and VfT, an
association of business listings providers in Germany, have filed similar complaints against us. On March 31, 2011,
Microsoft Corporation submitted a similar complaint to the EC against us. On the same day, the EC notified us of
additional complaints filed by Elfvoetbal, Hotmaps, Interactive Labs, and nnpt.it, and on August 30, 2011 of a
complaint by dealdujour.pro. On September 16, 2011, we responded to all of the allegations made against us. In
addition, in December 2011, the Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publishers also submitted a complaint to
the EC against us. We are cooperating with the EC and responding to its information requests.
EPA Investigation
In February 2009, we learned of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation into an alleged
release of refrigerant at one of our smaller data center facilities, which we acquired from DoubleClick, and the
accuracy of related statements and records. We are cooperating with the EPA and have provided documents and
other materials.
Department of Justice Investigation (Advertising)
In connection with the resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use
of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million during the three months ended March 31,
2011, which was paid in August 2011 upon final resolution of that matter.
Patent and Intellectual Property Claims
We have had patent, copyright, and trademark infringement lawsuits filed against us claiming that certain of
our products, services, and technologies, including Android, Google Search, Google AdWords, Google AdSense,
Google Books, Google News, Google Image Search, Google Chrome, Google Talk, Google Voice, and YouTube,
infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Adverse results in these lawsuits may include awards of
substantial monetary damages, costly royalty or licensing agreements, or orders preventing us from offering
certain features, functionalities, products, or services, and may also cause us to change our business practices,
and require development of non-infringing products or technologies, which could result in a loss of revenues for us
and otherwise harm our business.
In addition, many of our agreements with our customers and partners require us to indemnify them for certain
intellectual property infringement claims against them, which would increase our costs as a result of defending
such claims, and may require that we pay significant damages if there were an adverse ruling in any such claims.
Furthermore, such customers and partners may discontinue the use of our products, services, and technologies,
as a result of injunctions or otherwise, which could result in loss of revenues and adversely impact our business.
Other
We are also regularly subject to claims, suits, government investigations, and other proceedings involving
competition and antitrust (such as the pending investigations by the FTC and the EC described above), intellectual
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