• AmLaw Daily , Thursday, December 4, 2008 10:30 AM

So, just how close did Google come to facing an antitrust suit from the Department of Justice? According to a report from the American Lawyer's AmLaw Daily, the search giant came within three hours of being branded a monopoly by the federal organization, which is why the company decided to scrap plans to provide search advertising on Yahoo on Nov. 5.

In an interview with AmLaw Daily, Sandy Litvack, the lawyer hired by the DoJ to look into the Google-Yahoo search advertising pact, said, "We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day. We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement."

According to Litvack, the government would have sought an injunction against Google providing search ads on Yahoo, claiming that the search giant was violating two sections of the Sherman antitrust act. In the interview, Litvack indicated that he was sorry Google backed down. "Of course I was looking forward to it," Litvack said. "We felt pretty good about it, we felt pretty confident. Yeah, I would have liked to have done it."

Read the whole story at AmLaw Daily »