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US v. Google: an antitrust trial



A much anticipated trial, the second US-versus-Google this year, unfolded over recent weeks before Judge Brinkema of the US district court for the eastern district of Virginia. 

Leonie Brinkema, by the way, is a New Jersey native with an undergraduate degree from Rutgers and a law degree from Cornell. She is also a Clinton appointee. 

Trial began on September 9. In opening arguments, the Department of Justice's lead attorney, Julia Tarver Wood, spoke of Google huge share of the market for the sale of online ads (87%). It is the almost-indispensable middle-man between someone who wants to advertise and the ad pages on which the ad will eventually be seen. It is selling to you (if "you" are an ad manager for a company with something to sell) the value of its algorithms, which help your ads find your products demographic niche. 

Wood spoke about how Google has aggressively bought up ad software companies like DoubleClick and AdMeld. She spoke, too, of how Google locks you into their products and controls how transactions are made in that world.                 

Karen Dunn is Google's lead counsel. She argued that people use Google's products simply due to the fact that they are "simple, affordable, and effective." 

What is noteworthy is that this is a quite traditional argument over antitrust law. Nothing fancy, no novel theories.

The defense wrapped up its case September 20. There is no jury, and the Judge may take until the end of the year to deliver a judgment. 

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