Several US states have filed a lawsuit against Google for monopolizing its search engine. However, a federal judge has ordered that the scope of the case should remain limited, in part because of insufficient evidence.
In a recent ruling, Google has won a victory in the lawsuit over the alleged monopoly power of its search engine and the search results it produces, Bloomberg writes.
Google’s search results are said to have harmed competitors’ search engines, such as Yelp and Expedia, according to the complaint. According to the ruling, the various states that have sued the tech giant cannot prove this.
Favoring search functionality
However, the complaint does remain that Google, through agreements with manufacturers and browser providers, favours its search engine and functionality over alternatives. This is said to have been the case when the company signed contracts with Apple, Mozilla, the provider of Firefox, and smartphone manufacturers.
Setting the Google search engine as the default on smartphones and in other products hinders competing solutions, such as Bing or DuckDuckGo, from competing with the tech giant. The U.S. judge wants to see more evidence to back up this claim.
DoJ complaint upheld
The trial will take place on Sept. 12 in the District of Columbia. The US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) complaint about the tech giant’s possible anti-competitive agreements on its search engine is upheld. The recent verdict concerns only the charges from the various states, such as Colorado and the District of Columbia.
Google says it faces the lawsuit with confidence. The search giant indicates that consumers have plenty of alternatives online to retrieve Web results.
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