U.S suing Google

U.S suing Google.

One of the most consequential antitrust trials in decades begins Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors try to prove that Google (GOOG, GOOGL) illegally stifled competition in the world of online search.

A lot is on the line for both sides.

The lawsuit against Google is a supreme test for the US government, which is trying to use a 133-year-old law to rein in several of the country’s most dominant tech giants. For Google, it is a threat to a core profit engine that sits at the heart of a trillion-dollar empire amassed over the last quarter century.

That drama will unfold over the next nine weeks before federal district Judge Amit Mehta in the US District Court for the District of Columbia; he will decide whether Google broke the law and what any consequences might be for the company.