The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage.In its opening statement, Google’s lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.It also says that Google's technology, when used on all facets of an ad transaction, allows Google to keep 36 cents on the dollar of any particular ad purchase, billions of which occur every single day.In his testimony Friday, Sheffer explained how Google's tools have evolved over the years and how it vetted publishers and advertisers to guard against issues like malware and fraud.
The trial began Sept.9, just a month after a judge in the District of Columbia declared Google’s core business, its ubiquitous search engine, an illegal monopoly.That trial is still ongoing to determine what remedies, if any, the judge may impose.
The ad technology at question in the Virginia case does not generate the same kind of revenue for Goggle as its search engine does, but is still believed to bring in tens of billions of dollars annually.
