Google is reportedly considering a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over potential claims that it broke antitrust law in handling patents for mobile devices.

Google went under scrutiny regarding the use of Motorola patents, which it allegedly used as weapons against rival mobile phone makers such as Apple. The FTC opened an investigation in June over Google's use of the patents it acquired after purchasing Motorola in May.

According to a Wall Street Journal report on Friday, Oct. 19, citing "two people familiar with the situation," Google is contemplating a settlement of an FTC investigation seeking to determine whether the company purposely refused to license industry essential patents to competing mobile device makers, and in some cases used the IP to seek injunctions.

"At issue, according to two people familiar with the matter, is whether Google improperly refused to grant patent licenses to some mobile device competitors and sought court injunctions against them to stop their products from being sold," the WSJ reported.

A separate, broader investigation into the company's search business is still ongoing, but regulators have made no decisions so far to press a case against Google. The FTC has been conducting an antitrust investigation of the search giant's business for more than a year, but only in recent months it started probing Google's Motorola patents.

Along with its acquisition of Motorola, Google also inherited a slew of lawsuits Motorola had filed against competitors for violating its patents, as well as cases brought against Motorola for refusing to license patents.

Courts and antitrust authorities worldwide have been focusing on the proper handling of patents regarded as "essential" to particular technologies. Groups charged with setting technical standards often require companies to license such patents on reasonable financial terms, or FRAND terms.

FTC lawyers have reportedly threatened to bring a case against Google under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which governs unfair or deceptive business practices, for using Motorola's wireless-technology patents as a weapon against competitors such as Apple and Microsoft, one source told the WSJ. The agency believes it has evidence that some people at Google admitted to colleagues that the company did not properly handle such patents, added the source.

It remains unclear, however, what a settlement with the FTC would require. One possibility would be for Google to agree to adjust its conduct. A spokeswoman for Google said the company would cooperate with authorities' inquiries, but offered no further comment. Meanwhile, an FTC spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.