Google’s $700 Million Purchase of ITA Cleared by U.S. Judge

Google Inc.’s $700 million purchase of travel-information company ITA Software Inc. was cleared by a federal judge after the search-engine company agreed to conditions imposed by the U.S. government.

U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins in Washington today approved a consent decree between Google and the Justice Department that allows the acquisition as long as Google makes travel data available to search-engine rivals and lets the government review any complaints it’s acting unfairly. Wilkins said he found the agreement to be in “the public interest.”