Google-Motorola Deal Further Investigated by Department of Justice

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A short while ago Google decided to overbid for Motorola in order to get its hands on an impressive collection of patents, not to mention the possibility of building its own Android hardware, a move that would put it into a better position of fighting rivals in the mobile business.

But the deal between the two companies is yet to be approved. In fact, it appears that the Department of Justice is interested in further details regarding the proposed purchase, as Reuters reports:

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Motorola said it received a request for “additional information and documentary material” from the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division.

Motorola said Google also received a similar request and repeated its expectation the deal would close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Google, via Senior Vice President Dennis Woodside, said that it’s all a routine check for now, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the DoJ feels about this particular merger.

Recently, the Department of Justice filed a suit to block AT&T’s proposed T-Mobile buyout, so who’s to say the Google-Motorola deal is any safer?

In fact Google is already investigated for antitrust practices both in the USA and the EU. Google’s former CEO, Eric Schmidt appeared in front of a U.S. Senate antitrust panel last week explaining the company alleged monopoly practices in the search business and not only.

The Google-Motorola deal is not necessarily seen with good eyes by current Google Android partners either. HTC has been reported to be on the lookout for a new mobile OS despite publicly supporting Google’s decision to buy Motorola.

Samsung on the other hand, not willing to wait for the merger to be completed, agreed to pay Microsoft royalties for certain Android-related patents and continue to work with the company on WP7 handset development. Does the South Korean company believe the Google-Motorola deal will not take place anymore?