(Reuters) - U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Monday ruled that Google had violated antitrust law by spending billions of dollars to secure exclusive agreements with developers, carriers and equipment makers to be the default search engine. Here are some key statements the judge made in his 277-page ruling:"Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly." “Sure, users can access Google's rivals by switching the default search access point or by downloading a rival search app or browser. But the market reality is that users rarely do so.”“The default is extremely valuable real estate. The result is the industry’s highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users.”(Reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
