Google Antitrust Trial Begins With DOJ Claiming Tech Giant Abused Its Monopoly “With A Wall Built From Default And Scale”
12.09.2023 - 14:03
/ deadline.com
Google’s lopsided command of the search market was put on trial on Tuesday, as federal and state attorneys argued that the tech giant unfairly abused its dominance at the expense of rivals and start ups.
“Google protects this money machine with a wall built from default and scale,” Kenneth Dintzer, lead attorney for the Justice Department, said in his opening statement.
The trial is being viewed as perhaps the most consequential tech industry antitrust case since the federal government challenged Microsoft in the late 1990s, protracted litigation that ended up costing the company time to mount a serious challenge in emerging internet search.
The federal government’s lawsuit against Google is one of a number of cases against tech giants, amid pressure to rein in their power.
The trial at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. is expected to last ten weeks. If U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rules in favor of the government, there will be further proceedings to decide what steps Google must take to mitigate concerns over competition in the marketplace.
The case is being closely watched by many lawmakers, who have so far been unable to advance robust new antitrust legislation. It’s also been of interest to entertainment industry lobbyists, who long have called on Google to take greater steps to curb piracy, although that issue is not a part of the trial itself.
A flood of lawyers, law students and journalists arrived early at the courthouse for a view of the opening arguments in the case, which are expected to last through much of the day. “Even for D.C., I think we have the highest concentration of blue suits for one location today,” Mehta said at the outset.
At issue in the Google case are the ways in which the