Judge narrows scope of Google antitrust case ahead of trial

An antitrust case against Google filed by the Department of Justice and a coalition of states can move ahead to trial, but with a more narrow scope of claims, a federal judge ruled this week. 

In the decision unsealed Friday, District Court Judge Amit Mehta handed Google a win by ruling that the tech giant will not have to defend itself against allegations leveled by the state attorneys general complaint that Google has weakened competition by harming rival companies, such as Yelp or Expedia. 

The states alleged Google harmed competition for companies focused on more niche markets, like OpenTable for restaurant reservations or eBay for shopping, by limiting them in Google’s search result and asking for their data to be made available to Google. 

Mehta tossed out those claims from the lawsuit, arguing that the states’ have not “demonstrated the requisite anticompetitive effect in the relevant markets. 

Despite narrowing the scope of the trial, Mehta’s ruling allows the case over Google’s dominance in the search market to go forward and keeps in place some other significant claims that the tech giant will have to face, including over allegations about “exclusive” contracts and Google’s ad buying tool. 

“There remain genuine disputes of material fact that warrant a trial,” Mehta wrote. 

The trial is set to begin Sept. 12. 

In a statement, Google’s president of global affairs and chief legal officer Kent Walker said, “We appreciate the Court’s careful consideration and decision to dismiss claims regarding the design of Google Search.” 

“Our engineers build Search to provide the best results and help you quickly find what you’re looking for. People have more ways than ever to access information, and they choose to use Google because it’s helpful. We look forward to showing at trial that promoting and distributing our services is both legal and pro-competitive,” Walker added. 

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D), who is leading the state-led coalition, said in a statement he is “pleased that the multistate attorneys general lawsuit challenging Google’s monopoly in the search engine market and search advertising will proceed to trial in September.”

“We will continue to evaluate how to best press forward and establish Google’s pattern of illegal conduct that harms consumers and competition,” Weiser added.