A federal judge in Virginia denied Google’s request to transfer antitrust claims brought by the United States and eight states to the Southern District of New York, where more than 24 antitrust actions already sit for pretrial proceedings.
Specifically, California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia filed the action against Google for its alleged anti-competitive practices in the digital advertising industry. The present action, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that Google attempted to eliminate any threats to its ad tech monopoly by using acquisitions, and using its power to force publishers to “use its products exclusively while disrupting their ability to use competing ad servers, ad exchanges and ad-buying tools.”
