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A Google victory in private antitrust suit

Matt Weinberger

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Google won another private antitrust suit late this week thanks to an Ohio judge tossing out the case levied against it by a tiny search company.

MyTriggers, the comparison shopping search tool provider which filed the suit, has been alleging that Google had been manipulating search results to keep its business from taking off. Interestingly, that claim was only made after Google had sought $335,000 in unpaid bills from myTriggers, according to CNET.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the case was dismissed when the judge ruled that myTriggers was unable to prove that Google’s business practices are harmful to competition as a whole.

Judge John P. Bessey wrote:

“The counterclaim only alleges harm to myTriggers itself. myTriggers’ allegations do not meet the necessary standard for pleading an antitrust injury.”
It’s also worth noting that MyTriggers was represented in this case by long-time Microsoft antitrust specialist Rick Rule and his well-known law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, based out of Washington DC. Of course, Microsoft continues to deny all involvement in any lawsuits against Google.

But it’s an interesting coincidence when you remember that Rule represented TradeComet in that company’s separate private antitrust lawsuit against Google, which was dismissed back in July.

With this dismissal, Google has won all of the currently-known private lawsuits levied against it here in the US. But it’s still looking down the barrel of an FTC antitrust investigation into its business practices

(Access the entire article at this link:  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/a-google-victory-in-private-antitrust-suit/3287).

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This writer feels strongly that Google's antitrust probe arose because of the company's opposition to S.968, a congressional bill which would put the Internet under the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ).  If that happens, freedom of press in the United States might be finished.  I have not found the USDOJ to be a fair government agency or particularly interested in upholding citizens' rights. Yahoo, VISA, American Express, venture capitalists, law professors, Human Rights Watch, and many other companies, organizations, and individuals also object to the provisions in Senate Bill 968 for Attorney General Holder and his successors' ability to 1) redirect links, 2) control browsers, and 3) remove websites from the Internet that appear to violate intellectual property rights and use those capabilities "FOR OTHER PURPOSES."  The "other purposes" were not named in the bill, but I suspect they include expelling dissidents from the Internet altogether, including people who oppose war without provocation, capital punishment, outsourcing American jobs to prisons and overseas, religious "bias," etc.  Although Google was far from being alone in opposing Senate Bill 968, the fact that Google directs over 85% of Internet searches probably makes its opposition the most problematic for passage of the Nazi bill.  See previous articles by this writer to expose attacks against Google for standing for freedom of press at the five links below:

Mary Neal, director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill - http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI - sister of deceased mentally ill heart patient who was secretly arrested and murdered in 2003, Larry Neal. Visit his webiste at Wrongful Death of Larry Neal http://WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal.com .  Other Blogger blogs by this writer are EXPOSED: Free Speak Blog at http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com and Justice Gagged at http://justicegagged.com A victory for Google regarding its antitrust allegations is a victory for freedom of press.

9/3/11