Bates White supports expert on behalf of the Department of Justice in second US v. Google antitrust case
The Department of Justice (DOJ) retained Robin S. Lee, a Professor of Economics at Harvard University, as an expert witness in United States v. Google LLC. This case is a civil antitrust suit against Google alleging that Google violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. The DOJ claims that Google has unlawfully monopolized or attempted to monopolize markets for publisher ad servers, ad exchanges, and advertiser ad networks for open-web display advertising and “wielded its market power in various ad tech tools to undermine attempts by publishers, advertisers, and rivals to introduce more competition for digital advertising transactions.” In addition, DOJ claims that the challenged conduct deprived rivals of sufficient scale to meaningfully compete, stifled innovation, and raised the price of transactions for open-web display advertising, thereby harming open-web publishers and advertisers.
At trial, Prof. Lee testified regarding his opinions on market definition, market power, and Google’s exclusionary conduct. Prof. Lee presented analyses supporting his opinions that the three markets at issue are relevant antitrust markets, that Google possesses substantial and sustained market power protected by significant barriers to entry in each of those markets and that Google’s conduct has harmed competition and customers in those markets. Prof. Lee was supported by a team of economists and consultants at Bates White.
This case has garnered significant media interest, being covered by Law360, The Wall Street Journal, and The Verge. A decision in the case is expected in late 2024 or early 2025.