Google Denies It Ever Had or Will Ever Get ‘Monopoly Power’ in Online Ad Market

Google has never had, and is unlikely to obtain, “monopoly power in any properly defined relevant market for advertising services,” said its answer Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-05177) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan to Gannett’s May 15 amended complaint. The complaint alleges that Google and Alphabet unlawfully have acquired and maintain monopolies for the advertising technology tools that publishers and advertisers use to buy and sell online ad space. Google’s conduct as alleged in Gannett’s complaint “was lawful, justified, procompetitive, and carried out in Google’s legitimate business interests,” said its answer. Its conduct “constitutes bona fide competitive activity, the benefits of which significantly outweigh any alleged anticompetitive effects,” it said. The plaintiff's deceptive trade practices and common-law fraud claims against Google are barred, in whole or in part, “for failure to allege with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake,” and because Gannett hasn’t and can’t establish a false, misleading or deceptive act or practice, it said. To the extent that Gannett seeks recovery of civil penalties, those penalties are limited by the applicable state statutes, the due process clause of the U.S. and applicable state constitutions, and they also “must have a reasonable relation to the actual harm established,” it said.