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Google is gearing up for the next round in the legal battle between tech giants and regulators by appealing a key U.S. antitrust ruling after a federal judge ruled that Google violated U.S. antitrust laws by paying huge fees to ensure its search engine became the default option on smartphones and web browsers. The ruling was seen as a major victory for the U.S. Justice Department.

Judge Amit Mehta of Washington, D.C., said in his ruling that the $26 billion Google paid effectively excluded competitors from the market, making it difficult for them to succeed. Antitrust enforcers allege that Google illegally maintains a monopoly over online search and related advertising. U.S. government agencies say Google has paid billions of dollars over decades to companies such as Apple and Samsung Electronics to make its search engine the default option, a practice that has helped Google become the world's most used search engine and brought it more than $300 billion in annual revenue, mostly from search advertising.

Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said in a statement that the company plans to appeal and affirmed the decision.