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, the 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 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 on Sept. 12.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
