On Friday Google asked a federal court to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit led by the State of Texas. According to the New York Times this is the first time it has sought to have one of the government competition cases against it thrown out in the United States.
Google wrote in a filing that the state had failed to show that it engaged in anticompetitive behavior and hadn’t proved that an agreement between Facebook and Google, a core part of the case, violated the law.
“We’re confident that this case is wrong on the facts and the law, and should be dismissed,” said Adam Cohen, the company’s director of economic policy.
Related: Texas Antitrust Suit Says Google Takes Up To 42% From Ads
The Texas lawsuit argues that Google has obtained and abused a monopoly over the labyrinthine set of systems that allow publishers to auction off ad space to marketers. The states argue that Google misled publishers and advertisers about the nature of the ad auctions, allowing it to pocket more of the money flowing through its ad systems. And they say the company used a deal with Facebook to maintain its dominance when the publishers tried to develop an alternative system.
“Despite amassing a lengthy collection of grievances, each one comes down to a plea for Google to share its data or to design its products in ways that would help its rivals,” Google said in its filing.
Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a statement: “Google’s motion attributes their monopoly status to pure success on the merits. The company whose motto was once ‘Don’t Be Evil’ now asks the world to examine their egregious monopoly abuses and see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.”
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
