A federal judge has ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.
In a landmark decision, Judge Amit Mehta concluded that Google is a monopolist and has acted to maintain its dominance, thus violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act. This ruling represents a significant victory for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had accused Google of illegally monopolising the online search market.
Judge Mehta did not agree with all the DOJ's arguments. While he affirmed that Google holds a monopoly in “general search services” and “general search text advertising”, he rejected the claim that Google has monopoly power in one specific part of the ads market.
