DOJ will move faster toward Google than it did with Microsoft: experts

News broke Friday that the US Department of Justice assumes preparing a survey on the alphabet's Google for antitrust violations.

Since the news has passed, many have compared the Google survey with a one-year federal survey on Microsoft two decades ago.

But two antitrust lawyers told CNBC that when DOJ does a formal announcement, which can take months, the process will likely move much faster than the Microsoft case did.

DOJ's antitrust investigation with Microsoft started in 1[ads1]992 and went through several stages before DOJ sued Microsoft in 1998. In 2000, a district court ordered Microsoft to be broken into two companies, but the raid was overturned in appeal. Finally, in 2001, Microsoft and DOJ settled with the government imposing several rules the company had to follow for years.

From original survey to settlement lasted nine years. While Microsoft escaped a breakup, it had to pay billions in fines from subsequent litigation from competitors and government, and was undoubtedly more concerned with its actions in the 21st century because of the government's investigation that paved the way for competitors like Google and Apple to cut in their dominance.

Antitrust lawyer Gary Reback, who spied up the work that led to the government's antitrust case against Microsoft and has worked with some clients who have complained about Google, and Rutgers Law School professor Michael A. Carrier agree that Any Google Survey is likely to be pre-installed, which means it is moving faster than the Microsoft case.

"Although this is complicated, I don't know it's going to be that kind of ordeal," Reback said, referring to the Microsoft case.

This is partly because the FTC already investigated Google earlier this decade. Although it concluded the survey without imposing any penalties, the Wall Street Journal reported that some FTC officials concluded in 2012 that the company had used competitive-competition tactics with the search engine, such as favoring its own sites in search results and copying information from third-party websites to better their own results.

"If they started from scratch, it could take several years," Reback said. "But they now have more information."

"I think the DOJ will really make sure they can find an antitrust breach rather than just anxiety that the company is too big," said Carrier, who specializes in antitrust and IP law.

The two lawyers noted that both sides of the time are currently skeptical of major technology, leaving Google without political shelter.

"I have taken businesses to Washington where they have complained about Google for a long time, and it was politicians who blocked it once, but the blocks are no longer there," Reback said. "I don't know if it's the Trump administration that triggered it exactly, but it could have been what broke the pond."

Although details of a survey are still unknown, lawyers predict that DOJ's target issues will be in Google's search and advertising business as well as its bundling application practices. They believe that the agency will be silent for several months before a formal investigation or case is announced.

Meanwhile, Google investors have the right to worry, Carrier said.

"When an actor who is as powerful as the antitrust division is involved, it is something investors should pay attention to because it would be a very big deal if they found a case."

Meanwhile, other big tech companies can also get on fire. According to the Washington Post, the DOJ division divisions big-tech antitrust duties with the Federal Trade Commission, which allegedly looks at Amazon.

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