Google violated antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in advertising technology, a federal judge ruled today.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema wrote that Google “has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising.”
“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,” the judge wrote. “Google further entrenched its monopoly power by imposing anticompetitive policies on its customers and eliminating desirable product features.”
“In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.”
The judge said that a breifing schedule would be set to determine remedies.
The ruling against Google was the second federal antitrust lawsuit it has lost in less than a year. In August, a federal judge ruled that Google acted to maintain a monopoly over the search business.
More to come.
