According to a Thursday Bloomberg report, citing four unidentified sources "familiar with the matter," the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is apparently set to make a formal and public recommendation for an antitrust lawsuit against Internet search giant Google, over its attempts to block rivals from accessing key smartphone-technology patents.

Pointing out that the FTC staff has formally recommended the filing of a patent suit against Google, the Bloomberg sources revealed that "a majority of the agency's five commissioners are inclined to sue."

With the FTC having opened a formal antitrust investigation into Google's policies in June, the FTC staff told the commissioners in an official recommendation last month that Google's move to block rivals' access to smartphone-technology patents marked a violation of anti-trust law.

About the FTC commissioners' final decision on the Google patent lawsuit-related recommendation of its staff, the Bloomberg sources revealed that the decision will likely be made only after the presidential elections scheduled to be held on November 6.

Noting that antitrust regulators' tackling of high-profile cases, like the one involving Google, shows "a tough emerging attitude" being adopted by them, Bert Foer - the president of Washington-based American Antitrust Institute which supports strict enforcement of antitrust law - said that the antitrust regulators have "recognized that the failure to honor standard essential patent commitments needs to be treated much more severely than in the past."