Google Dragging its Feet on Document Production, Says DOJ in Digital Ad Case

After six “meet-and-confers” over the past two months, and with 36 days left before Google’s document production deadline, DOJ has been unable to secure the defendant’s agreement to produce relevant documents from successor custodians or critical source code documents underlying key allegations in DOJ’s amended complaint in an antitrust lawsuit over Google’s digital advertising business. So stated DOJ’s Thursday reply (docket 1:23-cv-00108) to Google’s memorandum of law in opposition to its motion to compel production of the documents in U.S. District Court for Virginia in Alexandria, Despite “ample notice,” Google waited until the afternoon DOJ’s brief was due to provide its most detailed response to its repeated requests, said DOJ in a motion to compel Google to produce certain documents. The addition of successor custodians to Google’s document searches is necessary to ensure a “complete production of relevant documents” for the time period covered in the amended complaint, and DOJ’s need for three remaining source code categories are necessary to reveal how Google’s algorithms work, it said.