Google seeks to limit reach of US judge’s digital ads ruling

By Mike Scarcella

May 13 (Reuters) - Alphabet’s Google has asked a federal judge in Texas not to adopt the reasoning of his counterpart in Virginia who ruled last month that the tech giant illegally dominates markets for online advertising technology.

In a filing on Monday, Google told U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan in Plano, Texas that the decision last month should not influence his rulings in a related case before him accusing the company of violating antitrust law.

Texas and other U.S. states sued Google in 2020, accusing it of illegally dominating advertising markets and violating laws against deceptive trade practices.

In the Virginia case, filed after the Texas lawsuit, the U.S. Justice Department, Virginia and other states also sued Google over its digital advertising business practices.

Texas and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did Google.

Google argued that an April 17 ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia that found the company held an illegal monopoly was “neither preclusive nor persuasive,” and that the company will appeal it.

“It is not the task of this court to decide whether the decision of its co-equal court is correct,” Google’s attorneys told Jordan in Texas federal court.

Texas and the other states countered in a filing that Brinkema “rejected Google’s key arguments decisively.”

Google had tried unsuccessfully to consolidate the antitrust cases in Virginia and Texas before a judge in New York who is weighing related antitrust claims.

The Texas lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial, unlike the Justice Department’s case in Virginia.

In the Virginia litigation, Brinkema in September will begin considering what remedies should be imposed to restore competition to online advertising.

The case is State of Texas et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 4:20-cv-00957-SDJ.

For plaintiffs: W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm; and Ashley Keller of Keller Postman

For defendant: R. Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman; Eric Mahr of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; and Daniel Bitton of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider

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