Google is a monopoly in online advertising technology, says judge

Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in certain online advertising technologies, a federal judge ruled Thursday, adding legal problems that could reshape the company of $ 1.88 Billion of dollars and modify its power on the Internet.

Judge Leonie Brinkema of the American District Court for the Virginia Oriental District said in a Declaring that Google had violated the law to build its domination on the largely invisible technology system which places advertisements on pages on the web. The Ministry of Justice and a group of States had continued Google, arguing that its monopoly in advertising technology has enabled the company to charge higher prices and to take a larger part of each sale.

“In addition to depriving competitors of the ability to compete, this exclusion substantially leads to harm customers of the Google publisher, the competitive process and, ultimately, consumers of open web information,” said Brinkema judge, who also rejected part of the government’s affair.

Google has more and more faced with a calculation on the dominant role that its products play in the way people get information and put online business. Another federal judge judged in August that the company had a monopoly in online research. He is now considering a request from the Ministry of Justice to break the business.

The Brinkema judge will also have the possibility of forcing changes to Google’s activities. In its trial, the Ministry of Justice has asking for a preventive manner of the court to force Google to sell certain elements of its advertising technology business acquired over the years.

Together, the two decisions and their remedies could verify Google’s influence and lead to a radical overhaul of the company, which faces a major potential restructuring.