Google advertising antitrust remedies trial set for Sept. 22, judge says

The U.S. government’s remedies trial in the Google antitrust case regarding its advertising tech is scheduled to begin on Sept. 22, according to civil hearing minutes released Friday.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, said Google was liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power,” ruling that Google held illegal monopolies in online advertising markets due to its position between ad buyers and sellers.

“For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets,” Judge Brinkema wrote.

That followed an August ruling that Google has held a monopoly in its core market of internet search, the most-significant antitrust ruling in the tech industry since the case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. The remedies trial for that case began last month in Washington, D.C.

“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his ruling about the search case.

Google is in a unique position as it tries to not only defend itself from antitrust allegations in court but also stay ahead of increasing competition in the generative AI market, from startups like Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Amazon-backed Anthropic and Perplexity, which compete directly with its search business.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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