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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has formally asked for dismissal of the Justice Dept. antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of illegally using its market power in online advertising.
That comes as wheels have started turning in the case, which is heading fairly quickly toward trial next spring, sooner than Alphabet had preferred.
“In the more than three years that it has been investigating Google’s ad-tech business, the United States has received more than two million documents from Google and taken over thirty depositions of Google witnesses,” the company said in a late Monday court filing, according to Reuters. “Yet plaintiffs remain unable to find support for their claimed antitrust harms.”
The tech giant is seeking a hearing to consider its motion to dismiss the case, citing a number of factors, including what it says was an erroneous definition of the online advertising market that improperly excluded powerful rivals like Facebook (META); that the government’s suggestion that Google’s “more than 50%” ad exchange market share fell short of a 70% threshold for market power; and that the government’s wrong to suggest Google’s acquisitions of DoubleClick and AdMeld hurt competition.
The Justice Dept. and eight states filed suit against Google in January, accusing the company of violating the antitrust Sherman Act and calling for a breakup of the ad-tech business.
