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The Justice Department, during the Trump administration, closed an investigation into the realtors organization. The Biden administration re-opened it in 2021 so it could probe how broadly housing listings are available and what fees home sellers pay to the brokers who represent buyers. The government's concern focused on private listings of homes, which NAR banned but left some exceptions, and a rule that requires sellers to pay the buyer's broker. Because of concern about "pocket listings," or private listings not available to the public, the NAR adopted a "Clear Cooperation Policy" in 2019 that was supposed to ban pocket listings but has been criticized for allowing exceptions. The NAR's Participation Rule had required brokers who listed a house to offer compensation to the buyer's broker.

Persons: Sarah Silbiger, Trump, Biden, Judge Florence Pan, Frederick Liu, Chris Michel, Diane Bartz, Chizu Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Justice Department and National Association of Realtors, The Justice Department, realtors, U.S ., Appeals, Circuit, NAR, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S

In the 2019 agreement, Facebook, which became Meta in 2021, was required to pay $5 billion for violating an earlier agreement. The company filed a separate appeal against Judge Timothy Kelly's ruling this week that it should be an FTC judge, not a district judge, who decides that case. This new lawsuit, filed late on Wednesday, argues that it is unconstitutional for the FTC to unilaterally tighten an existing consent agreement. The Meta complaints focus on the agency's dual role of prosecuting a matter before an FTC judge. Once the FTC judge makes a decision it is the commission which votes on whether to accept it.

Persons: Yuri Gripas, Judge Timothy Kelly's, Lina Khan, Rebecca Slaughter, Alvaro Bedoya, Meta, Diane Bartz, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Facebook Inc, Headquarters, REUTERS, Rights, Facebook, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Meta, FTC, Big Tech, Democratic, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. The agreement is non-binding and carries mostly general recommendations such as monitoring AI systems for abuse, protecting data from tampering and vetting software suppliers. In addition to the United States and Britain, the 18 countries that signed on to the new guidelines include Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Australia, Chile, Israel, Nigeria and Singapore. It does not tackle thorny questions around the appropriate uses of AI, or how the data that feeds these models is gathered. Europe is ahead of the United States on regulations around AI, with lawmakers there drafting AI rules.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Biden, Raphael Satter, Diane Bartz, Alexandra Alper, Deepa Babington Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Sunday, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Security Agency, Congress, White, Thomson Locations: United States, Britain, U.S, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Australia, Chile, Israel, Nigeria, Singapore, Europe, France

In the letter to Musk and X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, the lawmakers noted reports from nonprofit organizations that showed people with X Premium accounts "glorifying barbaric acts of violence against Israelis." The letter is the latest fight between Musk, who bought Twitter and renamed it X, and those who have advocated for better content moderation. The lawmakers said X profited from the posts both from subscription fees as well as ads displayed in replies to both Premium and regular posts. "X has financially benefited from the spread of demonstrably false and misleading content as well," the lawmakers wrote. These are videos that carry official Hamas branding and iconography," the lawmakers wrote.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, Rishi Sunak, Kirsty Wigglesworth, Linda Yaccarino, Musk, X, Adolf Hitler, Diane Bartz, Daniel Wallis Organizations: British, Rights, X, Twitter, Media, Nazi, Hamas, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, U.S, United States

Visitors cast their shadows past the logo of Google at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 15, 2023. "The payments that Google makes reflect that competition," he said. Murphy also argued that the payments to device makers and others were often passed through to users in the form of a cheaper phone or better data plan. Further, Murphy argued that while Microsoft had virtually all the preinstalled browser defaults in early 2010s, its Bing search engine got just 15% of search queries. Reporting by Diane Bartz Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Kevin Murphy, Apple, Murphy, Diane Bartz, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Microsoft, Apple, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON

Many of the patents at issue in the Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book listing of approved products were for devices such as asthma inhalers and epinephrine autoinjectors, the FTC said. "Wrongfully listed Orange Book patents by pharma companies can raise drug prices for Americans, harm fair competition, and delay better drugs," FTC Chair Lina Khan said on X, formerly known as Twitter. The Orange Book identifies drugs and products that the FDA has deemed safe and effective. The FTC says companies sometimes improperly list patents in the Orange Book that can delay market entry of lower priced generics. AbbVie was informed the FTC would dispute four patents in the Orange Book having to do with Restasis Multidose, eye drops used for chronic dry eye.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Lina Khan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mylan, AbbVie, Restasis, Diane Bartz, Patrick Wingrove, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Food and Drug Administration, FDA, REUTERS, AstraZeneca, GSK, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Food, FTC, pharma, Thomson Locations: White Oak , Maryland, U.S, WASHINGTON, Israel, Viatris

REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan on Thursday detailed challenges the search and advertising giant faces from smaller rivals, describing efforts to avoid becoming "the next road kill." "I feel a keen sense not to become the next road kill," said Raghavan, a senior vice president at Google who reports to chief executive Sundar Pichai. Raghavan said Google had some 8,000 engineers and product managers working on search, with about 1,000 involved in search quality. Asked about the expression "Grandpa Google," Raghavan said "unfortunately, yes" he had heard it. "Grandpa Google will help with things like homework but when it comes to interesting things, they go elsewhere," he said.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, Prabhakar Raghavan, Raghavan, Alphabet's, TikTok, Sundar Pichai, Microsoft's Bing, Google, Grandpa, Diane Bartz, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Justice Department, Yahoo, Google, Grandpa Google, Thomson Locations: Expedia.com, Instagram

The Justice Department has called witnesses who testified about Google's payments, billions of dollars annually, to smartphone makers and wireless companies to make Google search the default on devices, and win more users. Others testified how search dominance led to clout in online advertising, including the ability to quietly raise ad prices. He also testified about how Google used machine learning tools that it developed to improve its search. Nayak's discussions of improving search appeared to downplay the role that search query volume played, implicitly disagreeing with Microsoft (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella's arguments that his company needed more search queries to improve its Bing search engine but was being blocked by Google. Nayak also testified that Google compared its results to answers from Microsoft's search engine Bing, and found Bing to be lower quality.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, Pandu Nayak, Satya Nadella's, Amit Mehta, Nayak, Bing, Diane Bartz, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, WASHINGTON, Google, The, Thomson

Signage is seen at the Federal Trade Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 29, 2020. In the United States, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also fought the deal, and has an argument scheduled before an appeals court on Dec. 6. The agency said on Friday that it remained focused on that appeal. "The FTC continues to believe this deal is a threat to competition." Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Victoria Graham, Diane Bartz, Susan Fenton Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Activision, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Entertainment, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, Britain, United States

[1/2] The Kroger supermarket chain's headquarters is shown in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., June 28, 2018. Bonta said the decision has not been made, but added: "Right now there's not a lot of reason not to sue." In September, the companies announced a plan to sell more than 400 grocery stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers in an effort to get regulatory approval for the deal. A Kroger spokesperson said only non-unionized retailers, like Walmart and Amazon, will benefit if the merger is blocked. Research from the University of Southern California in 2021 found one in three neighborhoods in 30 populous U.S. cities had inadequate access to needed pharmacy services.

Persons: Lisa Baertlein, Rob Bonta, Bonta, Lina Khan, Diane Bartz, Leslie Adler, Bill Berkrot, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Kroger, REUTERS, Rights, Albertsons, S Wholesale Grocers, Walmart, U.S, Water Watch, Federal Trade, FTC, University of Southern, Thomson Locations: Cincinnati , Ohio, U.S, California, America, Food, Washington, University of Southern California

A woman holds her smart phone which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016. Google's James Kolotouros, who negotiated search distribution agreements with Android device makers and carriers, testified the agreements gave Google search exclusivity, and Google monitored compliance with them. Advertisers are not told their LTV, and Google uses "tunings" to adjust the price of ads, he said. Google's vice president and general manager of ads, Jerry Dischler, acknowledged that Google earned more than $100 billion in 2020 from search ads. Apple's (AAPL.O) senior vice president of services Eddie Cue praised Google's search and acknowledged under questioning that the smartphone maker had meetings with Microsoft and DuckDuckGo, which uses Bing searches, but found them inadequate.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, Google's James Kolotouros, Adam Juda, Joshua Lowcock, Jerry Dischler, Satya Nadella, Eddie Cue, Bing, John Schmidtlein, Google's, Diane Bartz, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Google, Department, GOOGLE, Verizon, Samsung, LTV, UM Worldwide, Microsoft, Apple, Nokia, Bing, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON

A woman holds her smart phone which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016. Google's vice president and general manager of ads, Jerry Dischler, acknowledged that Google earned more than $100 billion in 2020 from search ads. GOOGLE'S DEFENSE NO. GOOGLE'S DEFENSE NO. GOOGLE DEFENSE NO.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, Sundar Pichai, Kevin Murphy, Apple, Joshua Lowcock, Jerry Dischler, Eddie Cue, Bing, John Schmidtlein, Google's, Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Diane Bartz, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Google, Justice Department, Verizon, Samsung, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Microsoft, UM Worldwide, Nokia, Bing, GOOGLE, Core Systems, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON

The battle against junk fees is part of President Joe Biden's administration's effort to ease strains on voter pocketbooks as an election year approaches. Taking on "junk fees" gives Biden and his allies fodder to show they are helping people tackle costs as many Americans are dissatisfied with his economic stewardship. The administration has previously proposed a rule to require airlines to disclose fees upfront. The agency estimated the fees cost consumers tens of billions of dollars annually on items such as hotel resort fees. "These junk fees function as an invisible tax that quietly inflates prices across the economy," FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters on a conference call.

Persons: Joe Biden, Jonathan Ernst, Biden, Joe Biden's, Lina Khan, Diane Bartz, Jeff Mason, Douglas Gillison, Richard Chang Organizations: U.S, Fire Prevention, Eisenhower, White, REUTERS, Companies United, Democrat, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Consumer Financial, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Companies United States, America

Deal negotiations between Exxon and Pioneer are advanced but have not yet led to an agreement, Reuters reported on Thursday. These transactions were eventually allowed to be completed, and the regulator has not sued to thwart an oil and gas production deal since 2000. The lawyers and experts interviewed said the FTC would face an uphill struggle in challenging Exxon's attempted acquisition of Pioneer. "The modern U.S. experience is that oil and gas deals of any notable size get a close look. It sued to block the merger and only agreed to drop its objections after BP offered to divest oil production acreage in Alaska.

Persons: Joe Biden, Janet Yellen, Leah Millis, producer's, Lina Khan, Andre Barlow, Doyle, Barlow, Mazard PLLC, Sheldon Whitehouse, William Kovacic, George Washington, consultancies Wood MacKenzie, David Kass, Diane Bartz, David French, Mike Stone, Greg Roumeliotis, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Treasury, White, REUTERS, Exxon Mobil, Natural Resources, Exxon, Pioneer, Reuters, Federal Trade Commission, Democratic, George, Companies, Activision, FTC, Atlantic, BP, RBC Capital Markets, Chevron, PDC Energy, University of Maryland, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, U.S, Atlantic Richfield, Alaska, West Texas, New Mexico, Rystad, Denver, Julesburg, Washington ,, Atlanta

A redacted transcript unsealed late on Wednesday showed DuckDuckGo had struck a deal with Apple in 2014 to be shown as an option on Apple devices. Soon after, DuckDuckGo began pressing Apple to be made the default choice for users who wanted to work in privacy mode, which limited data collected on the user. DuckDuckGo has about 2.5% of the search market, he testified. In those meetings, Weinberg said, Apple executives would bring up the concern that its distribution agreements with Google may bar the change. The Justice Department has said that Google, which has some 90% of the search market, pays some $10 billion annually to Apple, other smartphone makers and others to be the default search.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, Weinberg, Apple, Apple's John Giannandrea, Bing, Giannandrea, Diane Bartz, Richard Chang, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Apple, Google, Thomson

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - A former executive at Samsung Electronics' venture capital arm who proposed that mobile app developer Branch Metrics' software offering be expanded in Samsung smartphones faced pushback due to pressure from Google, he said on Thursday in a landmark antitrust trial against the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit. Patrick Chang, who worked at Samsung Next to invest in innovative companies, had urged the parent company (005930.KS) to expand the offerings of Branch, which can search within apps, to its Android smartphones. Chang testified that Samsung also faced pushback from wireless carries, like AT&T, which sell Android phones. In its questioning, the Justice Department showed an August 2020 email by Samsung executive David Eun, who complained that "Google is clearly buying its way to squelch competitors." Chang testified during the fourth week of a more than two-month trial in which the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to show that Google abused its monopoly of search and some search advertising.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Patrick Chang, Alexander Austin, Branch, Austin, Chang, David Eun, Diane Bartz, Richard Chang Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Rights, Samsung Electronics, Samsung, Samsung Next, Metrics, Justice Department, U.S . Justice Department, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France

An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. The Justice Department has accused Google of manipulating online auctions - a multibillion dollar industry dominated by Google - with these formulas to favor its own bottom line. Dahlquist asked Juda if they had introduced changes to ad sales in a way that raised the cost-per-click by a consumer that advertisers pay. But Wendy Waszmer, a lawyer for Google, asked Juda on Wednesday afternoon on if there were ways that his ads quality team could raise prices unilaterally. Google's advertising business has been criticized by advertisers and website publishers for a lack of transparency, with both accusing Google of siphoning off too much revenue.

Persons: Arnd, Adam Juda, David Dahlquist, Juda, Dahlquist, Wendy Waszmer, Diane Bartz, Aurora Ellis Organizations: REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S . Justice Department, The, Google, Justice, European Union, LTV, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Washington, United States

[1/2] The Microsoft logo is seen at the Microsoft store in New York City, July 28, 2015. REBUFFED BY APPLENadella also testified that Microsoft had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple (AAPL.O) smartphones but was rebuffed. On laptops, most of which use Microsoft operating systems, Bing is the default search engine and has a market share below 20%, Nadella acknowledged. Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, long after the tech giant faced its own federal antitrust lawsuit. As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals.

Persons: Mike Segar, Satya Nadella, Nadella, U.S . Justice Department's, APPLE Nadella, John Schmidtlein, Google's, Schmidtlein, Bing, Amit Mehta, Diane Bartz, Christina Fincher, Deepa Babington Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Google, U.S . Justice, Apple, APPLE, Bing, Verizon, BlackBerry, Nokia, District of Columbia, Thomson Locations: New York City, WASHINGTON, U.S, Bing, OpenAI

Nadella was dismissing an argument that Google has made - that it is easy to change defaults on devices. He said that Microsoft, itself a tech powerhouse, had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple (AAPL.O) smartphones but was rebuffed. The clout in search makes Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits. "You get up in the morning and you brush your teeth and you search on Google," he added in a reference to Google's dominance in search. As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals.

Persons: Mike Segar, Satya Nadella, U.S . Justice Department's, Nadella, Amit Mehta, Bing, Diane Bartz, Christina Fincher, Deepa Babington Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, U.S ., Google, Apple, District of Columbia, Thomson Locations: New York City, WASHINGTON, U.S, OpenAI

A woman holds her smart phone which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016. The testimony came during the third week of a more than two-month trial in which the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to show that Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) abused its monopoly of search and some search advertising. Alexander Austin, a former chief executive of Branch Metrics, said in meetings with Samsung, the Android phone maker was worried Branch's tools would cause conflict with Google. Specifically, Branch had to make sure that its searches remained within apps and never linked to the web. The government also called Anna Kartasheva, a Google executive, to ask her about emails that appeared to show Google was concerned about the presence of Branch Metrics software on smartphones.

Persons: Eric Gaillard, Alexander Austin, Austin, Branch, Anna Kartasheva, Diane Bartz, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Branch, U.S . Justice Department, Google, Samsung, Thomson

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard logo in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. The case is set to be heard 20 days after an appeals court rules on whether the deal may go forward. The FTC had fought the deal in district court but lost and appealed. "We have full confidence in our case and the deal's benefits to gamers and competition," a Microsoft spokesperson said by email. The FTC said in a statement it continued to believe that the deal was "a threat to competition" and so was putting the matter on its calendar.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Victoria Graham, Diane Bartz, David Holmes, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Markets Authority, Ubisoft Entertainment, Thomson Locations: U.S, London

The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, February 20, 2017. The FTC said that it was asking the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering Amazon.com to stop its unlawful conduct. Other allegations include that Amazon gave preference to its own products on its platforms over competitors also on the platform. During the Trump administration which ended in 2021, the Justice Department and FTC opened probes into Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. The FTC sued Facebook during the Trump administration and Biden's FTC has pressed forward with the lawsuit.

Persons: Pascal, Lina Khan, Khan, Trump, Republican Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Diane Bartz, Chris Sanders, Matthew Lewis, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Amazon.com, Amazon, Alphabet's, Google, Facebook, FTC, The Yale Law, Apple, Big Tech, Republicans, Justice Department, The, Republican, Democratic, Thomson Locations: Lauwin, France, Seattle

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The deceptive use of artificial intelligence should be a priority for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), three commissioner nominees said at a confirmation hearing Tuesday in show of bipartisanship on the popular issue. Ferguson was chief counsel to U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from 2019 until 2021. Asked by Senator John Thune about the FTC's role in enforcing rules involving artificial intelligence, Slaughter said it was the FTC's job to pursue instances where laws against unfair and deceptive acts and practices were broken, whether or not artificial intelligence was used. A previous Republican FTC commissioner, Christine Wilson, quit this year and sharply criticized agency leadership.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rebecca Slaughter, Andrew Ferguson, Melissa Holyoak, Ferguson, Mitch McConnell, John Thune, Slaughter, Holyoak, Christine Wilson, Lina Khan, Diane Bartz, Aurora Ellis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Federal Trade Commission, Democrat, Senate Republican, Republican, Senate, FTC, Democratic, Thomson Locations: Virginia, Utah

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to supporters in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. March 17, 2019. L3 Harris said on July 26 it was informed that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission would not block its $4.7 billion deal for Aerojet Rocketdyne. The letter was signed by Warren, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel, as well as U.S. The lawmakers also requested correspondence between the Pentagon and the companies regarding potential conditions, including how they would be enforced. Reporting by Diane Bartz; additional reporting by Mike Stone; editing by Timothy GardnerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Elizabeth Warren, Karen Pulfer Focht, Lloyd Austin, Harris, Warren, L3Harris, William LaPlante, Representatives John Garamendi, Mark Pocan, Diane Bartz, Mike Stone, Timothy Gardner Organizations: Democratic, U.S, REUTERS, Rights, Democrat, L3 Harris Technologies, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Aerojet, Pentagon, Federal Trade Commission, Senate Armed Services, Representatives, Defense Department, Thomson Locations: Memphis , Tennessee, U.S, Austin

The trial began Tuesday with talk of the "future of the internet" but quickly plunged into the weeds of commercial agreements with Android makers like Motorola and Samsung. James Kolotouros, a Google executive responsible for negotiating the company's agreements with Android device makers and carriers, testified late in the week that Google pressed Android smartphone makers to have Google as the default search engine and other Google apps pre-installed on their machines. The antitrust fight has major implications for Big Tech, which has spent years being scrutinized by Congress and antitrust enforcers. Google argues that its search engine is wildly popular because of its quality, and payments to wireless companies or others were compensation for partners. The government also questioned a former Google executive, Chris Barton, who was at Google from 2004 to 2011.

Persons: Department's, Brian Higgins, James Kolotouros, Google's John Schmidtlein, Kolotouros, Antonio Rangel, Chris Barton, Barton, Bing, Tim Wu, Diane Bartz, Chizu Organizations: Google, Verizon, Motorola, Samsung, Department, Big Tech, Companies, California Institute of Technology, Biden, Thomson Locations: Bing

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