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The judge overseeing a landmark U.S. antitrust challenge to Google tried to poke holes in both sides’ cases during closing arguments Thursday, as he weighs a ruling that could reshape the technology industry. Judge Amit P. Mehta was presiding over the first day of closing arguments in the most consequential tech antitrust case since the U.S. government sued Microsoft in the late 1990s. The Justice Department has sued Google, accusing it of illegally shoring up a monopoly in online search. On Thursday, Judge Mehta questioned the government’s argument that Google’s dominance had hurt the quality of the experience for searching for information online. “Certainly I don’t think the average person would say, ‘Google and Amazon are the same thing,’” Judge Mehta said.

Persons: Judge Amit P, Mehta, Judge Mehta Organizations: Google, Microsoft, The

☆ The Judge Deciding Google’s Fate
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One of Amit P. Mehta’s first cases after becoming a federal judge in late 2014 proved to be a crash course in antitrust. Sysco, the nation’s largest distributor of food to restaurants and cafeterias, was trying to buy the rival US Foods, and the Federal Trade Commission had sued to block the $3.5 billion deal, arguing that it would stifle competition. Judge Mehta told lawyers on both sides that he would need help educating himself. After the trial in 2015, Judge Mehta wrote a comprehensive, closely reasoned 128-page opinion and ordered a temporary halt to the deal. Within days, Sysco abandoned its acquisition plan.

Persons: Amit P, Mehta’s, Judge Mehta, Sysco Organizations: US Foods, Federal Trade Commission

☆ The future of Google — and Big Tech — hangs in the balance at trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Google's landmark antitrust trial is wrapping up this week in DC with closing arguments, capping off a yearslong saga. AdvertisementIn the end, Judge Mehta could clear Google or find it liable, which could result in changes to its search engine contracts. Mehta could even bar Google from making future deals around its search engine. In his testimony, Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan noted the search giant is referred to as "Grandpa Google" in some circles and cited execs' fears that its influence might be dwindling.

Persons: —, Amit Mehta, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Google's, Kent Walker, Judge Mehta, Mehta, Prabhakar Raghavan, Google Organizations: Service, Apple, Business, US, Microsoft, Justice, Google, The New York Times, DOJ, FTC, Amazon, Meta, Big Tech, AP

☆ Judge Rejects Trump’s Effort to Delay Jan. 6 Civil Cases
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal judge on Thursday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to delay a group of civil lawsuits that are seeking to hold him accountable for inspiring the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Trump had sought to have the suits put on hold until after the completion of his federal criminal trial connected to many of the same events. But in a nine-page ruling, the judge, Amit P. Mehta, decided that the civil lawsuits could move forward without running the risk that Mr. Trump might damage his chances in the criminal case by revealing his defense strategy prematurely or making statements that prosecutors might use against him. Last month, when lawyers for Mr. Trump first asked Judge Mehta to postpone the civil cases, it was the latest example of the former president seeking to pit his multiple legal matters against one another in an effort to delay them. In the past few days, Mr. Trump has also sought to push back an important filing deadline he is facing in his classified documents case in Florida by arguing that the lawyers who have to write the court papers in question need more time because they are busy representing him at yet another criminal trial — the one in Manhattan where he stands accused of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal on the eve of the 2016 election.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Trump, Amit P, Mehta, Judge Mehta Organizations: Capitol, Mr Locations: Florida, Manhattan

Consumers, Google's lawyers will argue, can delete the Google app from their devices or simply type Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo into a browser to use an alternative search engine. They will argue that consumers stick with Google because they rely on it to answer questions and are not disappointed. In the first, Judge Amit Mehta will decide if Google has broken antitrust law in how it manages search and search advertising. If Google is found to have broken the law, Judge Mehta will then decide how best to resolve it. He may decide simply to order Google to stop practices he has found to be illegal or he may order Google to sell assets.

Persons: Bing, Amit Mehta, Judge Mehta, Diane Bartz, Jamie Freed Organizations: Google, The U.S . Justice, Apple Inc, Mozilla, Yahoo, Big Tech, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: United States, Washington, The

☆ Who’s Who in the Google Monopoly Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Cecilia Kang | More About Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A trial to determine if Google abused its monopoly in online search, which begins on Tuesday, is set to lay bare how the internet search giant cemented its power, featuring testimony from top tech executives, engineers, economists and academics. The trial will unfold in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where a core group of individuals will command the courtroom and direct the day-to-day legal strategies. v. Google:From federal courtJudge Amit P. MehtaJudge Mehta, who was appointed to the bench in 2014 by President Barack Obama, will referee and decide the case in the nonjury trial. In a proceeding last month, he narrowed the lawsuit by the Justice Department and states while preserving the core argument that Google maintained its monopoly in search through deals with smartphone makers that cut out competitors. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1997, a year before Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google.

Persons: Amit P, Mehta Judge Mehta, Barack Obama, Judge Mehta hasn’t, Judge Mehta, Larry Page, Sergey Brin Organizations: Google, District of Columbia, Justice Department, The Ohio State Law, University of Virginia Locations: U.S

☆ Google heads to court in a landmark trial that puts its search business in the crosshairs. Here's what's at stake.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

It revolves around how Google pays partners to promote its search engine on their products. A law expert said the DOJ has a "pretty strong" case but has big hurdles to prove Google is liable. Much of the trial's outcome will be predicated on whether the deals Google made to promote its search engine excluded healthy competition. It's easy to switch your default search engine – we're long past the era of dial-up internet and CD-ROMs," Google's Walker said in a statement. It could also mirror a European Union decision to make Google give Android users a choice of search engine when they first set up their devices.

Persons: Harry First, Global Affairs Kent Walker, Amit Mehta, Google's Walker, William E, Kovacic, David Olson, Bing, Judge Mehta, Eddy, John Giannandrea, Adrian Perica, Sundar Pichai, Olson Organizations: Google, Department of Justice, DOJ, Service, Apple, Microsoft, NYU Law School, Global Affairs, George Washington University, Boston College, Reuters, Union, Street Locations: Wall, Silicon

DuckDuckGo, Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Yahoo are among a long list of Google competitors who will be watching the trial closely. “It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this case, particularly for monopolies and companies with significant market share,” antitrust lawyer Luke Hasskamp told Reuters. The lawsuit that goes to trial was brought by former President Donald Trump's Justice Department. read moreJudge Mehta will decide if Google has broken antitrust law in this first trial, and, if so, what should be done. Reporting by Diane Bartz; additional reporting by Mike Scarcella; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Toby Melville, DuckDuckGo, Kamyl Bazbaz, Luke Hasskamp, ”, Amit Mehta, Barack Obama, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, Mehta, Daniel McCuaig, Cohen Milstein, Diane Bartz, Mike Scarcella, Diane Craft Organizations: Google, REUTERS, U.S . Justice, Apple Inc, Mozilla, Microsoft, Yahoo, Big Tech, Facebook, Reuters, Apple, Twitter, Big, U.S, District of Columbia, Department, Android, U.S . Justice Department's Antitrust, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, WASHINGTON, United States, “

Google (GOOGL.O) had asked for summary judgment on all the government's claims in the case, which is to go to trial next month. Google said Friday it appreciated the court's "careful consideration and decision to dismiss claims regarding the design of Google Search" in the case brought by the state attorneys general. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong praised the decision to allow the states Google search antitrust suit to proceed to trial. Mehta noted Google LLC operates the largest U.S. internet general search engine whose "brand name has become so ubiquitous that dictionaries recognize it as a verb." He noted Google in 2020 had nearly 90% market share and advertisers spend over $80 billion annually alone to reach general search users.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Judge Amit Mehta, Google's, Mehta, William Tong, Tong, Trump, Judge Mehta, Diane Bartz, David Shepardson, Mark Porter, Diane Craft Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Justice Department, Big Tech, Microsoft Corp, Apple, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Verizon, Mozilla, Justice, Department, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON, U.S, Washington, Connecticut, Virginia

A federal judge said this week that the Justice Department and a group of states could not move forward with some claims in an antitrust lawsuit against Google, narrowing the scope of the most significant federal monopoly trial against a tech giant in decades. In the decision, which was unsealed on Friday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the U.S. government and the states could not argue that Google maintained a monopoly by boosting its own products in search results over those of specialized sites. They had not “demonstrated the requisite anticompetitive effect,” he said. But Judge Mehta declined Google’s request to dismiss portions of the case. The decision sets the stage for the first major tech monopoly trial since the federal government took Microsoft to court in the 1990s, accusing it of monopolistic practices.

Persons: Judge Amit P, Mehta, ”, Judge Mehta Organizations: Justice Department, Google, U.S, District of Columbia, Microsoft, Apple, Meta Locations: U.S

☆ Jan 6. defendant unleashes courtroom rant at sentencing hearing, attacking everything from groceries and gas prices to the prosecutors trying her case
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Jan. 6 defendant unleashed a scathing diatribe during her sentencing hearing last week. Several times she spoke directly to Judge Mehta, insisting that her life was being taken from her simply "because people have different politics than mine," the outlet reported. "I wanted to tell you exactly what you want to hear, but I won't," Southard-Rumsey told the judge, per CBS. Audrey Southard-Rumsey refused to apologize for her conduct on Jan. 6 during her sentencing hearing. The judge sentenced her to 72 months in prison, as well as 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.

Persons: Audrey Southard, Rumsey, forgoing, Southard, Nancy Pelosi, Prosecutors, Amit Mehta, Judge Mehta, Mehta Organizations: Service, Capitol, Capitol Police, US, CBS, Southard, DOJ, Prosecutors, Lawyers Locations: Wall, Silicon, Florida

☆ Two More Oath Keepers Members Receive Sentences for Sedition in Jan. 6 Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Zach Montague | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal judge sentenced two members of the Oath Keepers militia to less than four years in prison for seditious conspiracy on Friday, placing a brake on the government’s effort to impose lengthy terms on members of the group for roles in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. The two men, David Moerschel and Joseph Hackett, who traveled from Florida to join the Oath Keepers in Washington on Jan. 6, received terms of three years and three and a half years, respectively. Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over three separate Oath Keepers trials that all have now concluded, diverged from federal guidelines in his decisions in Federal District Court in Washington this week. The judge veered toward leniency with members lower in the Oath Keepers’ hierarchy. Two others convicted of seditious conspiracy were sentenced this week to no more than four and a half years in prison.

Persons: David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Amit P, Mehta, Prosecutors, Moerschel, Hackett, Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs Organizations: Court, Mr Locations: Florida, Washington

☆ Jan. 6 Rioter Gets 14 Years for Police Attacks, Longest Sentence Yet in Inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alan Feuer | Zach Montague | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, the man, Peter Schwartz, 49, joined a growing list of people charged with assaulting the police on that day who have received stiff sentences. Until now, the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case had been the 10-year term given to Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer who was found guilty last year of swinging a metal flagpole at an officer at the Capitol. The sentence could presage more long prison terms to come. The prosecutors said holding Mr. Rhodes accountable at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for May 24, would be essential to preserving American democracy. His punishment, they said, could help decide whether “Jan.

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