The U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of 11 states have been named in an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of "unlawfully maintaining a monopoly through anticompetitive and exclusive practices in the search and search advertising markets." And interestingly, Google has found an ally in Mozilla, suggesting that it may be Mozilla and other smaller companies that ultimately suffer as a result of this lawsuit.

At issue are Google's search agreements with Mozilla and other companies that allow their search engine to serve as the default option. In a press release, the DOJ outlines four specific complaints against Google, claiming that these actions allowed Google to illegally maintain a monopoly in its lucrative search business. They include:

The DOJ notes that Google is one of the wealthiest technology companies on the planet, with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Google's parent company, Alphabet, saw its stock price rise after the DOJ announced its antitrust lawsuit, and as of this writing has a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion.

In its lawsuit (PDF), the DOJ specifically cites an exclusion agreement between Google and Mozilla, along with a handful of other companies such as AT&T and Opera. This drew Mozilla's attention and prompted it to half-heartedly defend Google.

"Small, independent companies like Mozilla thrive on innovation, disruption, and providing users with industry-leading features and services in areas like search. The ultimate outcome of antitrust litigation should not be collateral damage to organizations like Mozilla that are best suited to promote competition and protect the interests of consumers on the Web," Mozilla said in a blog post.

In fact, Mozilla derives the bulk of its revenue from Google and its ongoing search contracts. According to a recent ZDNet article, Mozilla and Google extended their search partnership for three years in August, ensuring that search queries made in the browser's URL bar will default to Google until at least 2023. In return, Mozilla will reportedly receive $400 million to $450 million per year from the deal.

Mozilla also states that its "origins are closely tied to the last major antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s."

The Firefox makers' position is that legal action against Google that harms small companies like themselves is "harmful to the system as a whole" without actually benefiting consumers; Mozilla argues that "big tech" cannot be fixed in such a way and that the focus should instead be on the ecosystem as a whole.

The DOJ will not be swayed by Mozilla's arguments. From its perspective, Google is the "gatekeeper of the Internet" and its lawsuit is a "monumental case" for both the DOJ and the public.