Judge dismisses antitrust suit against Google

Judge dismisses antitrust suit against Google

An antitrust suit against Google has been tossed out of court. The suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, accused Google of forcing Android device owners to use Google's applications as the default option. According to the complaint, this would force owners of Android powered handsets to use applications like Google Search, or Google Maps instead of applications made by Microsoft's Bing or others.

The suit alleged that Google's actions force smartphone prices to be higher than they could be if there was a true competition for a handset's "prime screen real estate." The latter is covered by Google Services like YouTube, Google Play Store, Google Search and Google Maps. But in her decision earlier today, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman said that the plaintiffs failed to show that Google's restrictions force smartphone prices higher. The judge said that there were an unknown number of supply chain levels between the manufacturers who signed the allegedly anti-competitive pacts with Google, and consumers.

The judge is giving the plaintiffs three weeks to amend their complaint, hinting that uncompetitive pricing and loss of consumer choice are not the reasons why Google could be found guilty of monopolistic behavior. In other words, the judge was telling the plaintiffs to look for other reasons to support refiling their suit.

"Their alleged injuries - supra-competitive prices and threatened loss of innovation and consumer choice - are not the necessary means by which defendant is allegedly accomplishing its anti-competitive ends."-Judge Beth Labson Freeman Source