Judge Dismisses Google Antitrust Lawsuit but Allows Amended Filing

A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google of unlawfully dominating web search on smartphones. However, he said that consumers could be given another opportunity to pursue the case in light of a separate ruling yesterday by a Washington, D.C. court that found the tech giant spent billions building an illegal monopoly.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin dismissed the antitrust lawsuit by consumers against Google in San Francisco, citing that there wasn’t a sufficient factual foundation to prove Alphabet unit’s dominance caused harm in their market. She mentioned, however, that plaintiffs can file an amended lawsuit, referring to the D.C. court’s significant ruling of August 6 that found Google’s exclusive contracts with Apple and other companies contributed to it creating an illegal monopoly over search engines.

The consumers’ attorney, Joseph Alioto, mentioned that on August 12, the next day, they would file an amended lawsuit. Consumers filed their proposed class action in 2022 alleging that Google had illegally conspired with Apple to make Google the preloaded default search engine on Apple devices.

Judge Lin dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit last year, saying it did not present enough factual support. She said again this time that the plaintiffs relied on “conclusory” and “speculative” claims.

However, despite that setback, the ruling provides a glimmer of hope for the consumer plaintiffs. Judge Lin’s order mentioned, over and again, the recent decision by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta against Google in Washington, following a weeks-long non-jury trial where Mehta found that the billions paid by Google to Apple and other tech giants to cement its status as the default search engine broke antitrust laws.

Lin has given the plaintiffs until September 9 to file an amended complaint. Meanwhile, Google has denied both lawsuits and vowed to appeal Mehta’s order.