It seems like there is no stop on the bad news for Google. As Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the federal court of San Francisco.
In the lawsuit, Yelp claims that Google has used its monopoly in the search engine market to dominate the local search and local search advertising markets. This has negatively impacted them and the competition – resulting in limited choices for the consumers.
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Allegations by Yelp against Google
Here are some of the key highlights from the Yelp lawsuit against Google:
- Google is accused of favouring its own “inferior” local search products over those of competitors, like Yelp.
- Google has made it difficult for the competitors to gain scale by increasing the operational costs for rivals.
- Yelp claims that Google has intentionally driven traffic and revenue away from its rivals.
- Yelp also argues that Google has limited the consumer choice’s in order to maintain and grow its market power.
A Decade Long Battle
This is not the first time Yelp has filed a lawsuit against Google. It is a part of the long legal battle that has been going on for some time now.
The new lawsuit filed by Yelp comes after the recent ruling by Judge Amit Mehta, which concluded that Google has illegally maintained its monopoly in general search and Yelp believes that this ruling provides a strong foundation for their case against Google.
Key points from Judge Mehta’s ruling include:
- Google used their domination to create monopoly in the search market.
- Google’s agreements with device makers and browsers, where it paid to be the default search engine, effectively blocked about 50% of the search market from its competitors.
- Google’s actions had anticompetitive effects, such as reducing the incentives for competitors to innovate.
“Judge Amit Mehta’s recent ruling in the government’s antitrust case against Google, finding Google illegally maintained its monopoly in general search, is a watershed moment in antitrust law, and provides a strong foundation for Yelp’s case against Google,” Aaron Schur, Yelp’s General Counsel, said on the ruling.
Legal Demands
Yelp has put on some demands which they seek from the lawsuit:
- Yelp wants the court to order Google to stop its alleged anti-competitive practices.
- Yelp is asking for compensation for the harm it has suffered over the years.
- Yelp also wants a legal declaration that Google’s behaviour violates antitrust laws.
