Google’s digital advertising antitrust case goes to court: Bloomberg (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Update 13:50: Adds Google’s answer

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google will have to defend itself at trial against the US Justice Department’s claims of the tech giant’s monopoly on digital advertising after a federal judge rejected the company’s request make a decision on this matter in advance, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The report shows that Google has moved for summary judgment in the case, asking that it be resolved before trial. The report added that the search giant argued that it did not qualify as a monopoly and that antitrust regulators had failed to show that it controlled 70% of the market for digital ads displayed on the open web.

Last week, Google avoided a jury trial in the case after it agreed to pay the U.S. government $2.3 million to settle the federal government’s claims for monetary damages.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit seeks to divide Google’s digital advertising industry after claiming that the tech titan has monopolized digital advertising.

This is the second major antitrust lawsuit against Google filed by the Department of Justice. An earlier lawsuit, filed by the Trump administration and still pending in court, accused Google of abusing its market power in the online search market.

Google’s advertising business also faces an antitrust lawsuit brought by a group of attorneys general led by Texas AG Ken Paxton.

“As we have said, advertising technology is highly competitive, and the Justice Department’s flawed arguments could hurt small businesses and drive up advertising fees. We look forward to resolving the situation,” Google said in a statement to Seeking Alpha.