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Google Antitrust
FILE - A sign is shown on a Google building at their campus in Mountain View, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2019. On Friday, June 7, 2024, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that a judge rather than a jury will decide whether Google violated federal antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Judge rather than jury will render verdict in upcoming antitrust trial

A judge rather than a jury will decide whether Google violated federal antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising

By Matthew Barakat
Published - Jun 07, 2024, 01:21 PM ET
Last Updated - Jun 07, 2024, 01:21 PM EDT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge rather than a jury will decide whether Google violated federal antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising.

The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema was a defeat for the Justice Department, which sought a jury trial when it filed the case last year in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

But the government's right to a jury trial was based largely on the fact that it sought monetary damages to compensate federal agencies that purchased online ads and claimed they were overcharged as a result of Google's anticompetitive conduct. The dollar values associated with those claims, though, were relatively small — less than $750,000 — and far less significant than other remedies sought by the government, which might include forcing Google to sell off parts of its advertising technology.

As a result, Google last month took the extraordinary step of writing the government a check for more than $2 million — the $750,000 in damages claimed by the government multiplied by three because antitrust cases allow for trebled damages.

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