Google is getting sued again, this time around, it’s by OpenX, an adtech company. As many of you probably instantly assumed, this is related to anticompetitive tactics. OpenX alleges that such tactics by Google “crippled” the company’s growth.
OpenX has just launched an 88-page lawsuit against Google
This move comes following the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit in the US. OpenX submitted an 88-page lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
OpenX said that Google’s business practices “crippled competitors like OpenX at every turn”, making it impossible for the company to compete on a “level playing field.”
The company further alleges that Google actually targeted OpenX, and used its dominance in the online ad space to “rig the rules by which digital advertising is bought and sold, to the detriment of OpenX and the entire industry.”
OpenX went even further than that and said that Google’s practices “stifled innovation, harmed competition, decreased product quality and caused significant damage to OpenX, as well as to Google’s own publisher and advertiser customers.”
Google did not respond just yet
This information comes from Business Insider, who also reached out to Google for a comment. It did not receive a response, at least not at the time of writing this article.
As a reminder, four months ago, Google was found guilty in the same court by a federal judge. Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in specific online advertising technology markets.
OpenX is the first adtech company which has decided to sue Google following that ruling. It is worth noting that Google plans to appeal the initial ruling from earlier this year. So, the whole case could take quite some time to complete.
In the worst-case scenario, Google’s adtech business could be broken up. We’ll have to wait and see what will come of this. It is also worth noting that OpenX’s lawsuit seeks a jury trial. OpenX also asks for an unspecified amount in damages, and an injunction “prohibiting Google’s anticompetitive conduct” on top of everything else.
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