According to a recent Bloomberg report, Internet search giant Google is apparently set to settle its long-running antitrust probe by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), by consenting to a voluntary change which the company will make in a few of its business practices.

The Bloomberg report, citing the information shared by three unidentified `inside' sources, revealed that, as a part of the settlement of the FTC's antitrust investigation, Google has agreed to voluntarily change the way it makes use of the data on other Websites, and allows the export of that data by advertisers.

Google has been under the scanner of the FTC chiefly because of its wide-ranging contentious business practices, which largely focus on the way the company displays the search results.

With Google facing the criticism that the company's search results show a clear preference for its own services vis-a-vis the services provided by its rivals, the FTC was also assessing Google's decision on technology licensing which, according to the allegation of critics, is anti-competitive.

However, the Bloomberg report did not offer any details linked to Google's patent war chest, which the company had reportedly said almost agreed that it will not use for blocking the sale of devices that supposedly violate its intellectual property. Under that reported agreement, the so-called standard essential patents - which cover technology that is used in technical standards - will be covered.