Google has filed motion, asking the court to dismiss the competition lawsuit started by a group of states led by the Texas attorney general. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched the suit in December, alleging violations in the display advertising marketing, including a supposed agreement with Facebook to divide the market.
Google said the case “doesn’t make for a credible antitrust lawsuit” and that case misrepresents its business, products and motives. The company is moving to dismiss based on the suit’s “failure to offer plausible antitrust claims.” Should the case move forward, the company added that it will continue to “vigorously defend” itself.
Google noted four claims it says are false, that it forces publishers to use its ad server in order to access its ad exchange, that it prevents rivals from using ‘header bidding’ through its Open Bidding programme, that certain optimizations make its ad auctions unfair, and that its business is static. “More broadly, much of AG Paxton's lawsuit is based on out-dated information that bears no correlation to our current products or business in this dynamic industry (and in any event never amounted to a violation of antitrust laws),” Google said.
Explaining its claims, Google denies it “colluded” with Facebook Audience Network (FAN) through its Open Bidding agreement. The deal was not secret and FAN was one of the partners in the Open Bidding programme. Also, FAN’s involvement was not exclusive, and in any case, the entire Open Bidding program, of which Facebook is one of 25 participants, accounts for a small fraction of the display ads the company places.
The attorney generals also alleged Google harnessed at least three programmes to manipulate ad auctions. The aim, according to the states, was to push publishers and advertisers into using the company's own tools, Engadget noted. Google said that plaintiffs want to force the comapny to share the "fruits of its invesments and innovation."
The two other charges in the suit are based on state law and were stayed in September. Although Google hasn't asked for those to be dismissed, it reserved the right to make that request at a later date, Reuters reported.
