Google still is likely to sign such a decree in a parallel investigation into its handling of mobile patents that it acquired with Motorola Mobility, one source told the paper. The FTC reportedly believes it has evidence that Google improperly refused to grant patent licences to some handset competitors and sought court injunctions against them to stop the products from being sold. In that settlement, Google is expected to make a commitment to regulators that it will fairly license its patents to competitors, similar to commitments made by Microsoft and Apple.
It was unclear what kind of voluntary changes Google will make to its search-engine results. Apart from that, Google is expected to commit to make it easier for advertisers to buy ad space on its search engine and to move their ad campaigns to competing sites, the report said.
