The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC on Oct. 20 alleging the company unlawfully maintained monopolies in the general search, search advertising, and general search text advertising markets through "anticompetitive and exclusionary practices." The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses Google of paying "billions of dollars each year" to device makers such as Apple Inc., LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., as well as to major U.S. wireless carriers including AT&T Inc., T-Mobile U.S. Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., to secure default status for its general search engine. Some of these agreements are exclusionary, according to the suit, and specifically prohibit these companies from dealing with Google's competitors.