© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Google LLC logo is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in New York City, U.S., January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday set an accelerated schedule in the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit challenging Google LLC’s digital advertising technology practices, moving the case faster than anyone had proposed of the parts.
Federal Judge John Anderson in Alexandria, Virginia, after a brief hearing issued an order setting January 18, 2024 as the date by which lawyers for Google and the Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc Department of Justice must disclose factual evidence and expert reports. Lawyers for both sides had sought at least an additional five months to prepare for trial.
The faster pace of the litigation could put additional pressure on both parties, but particularly on Google in building its defense, based on what the company in a court filing called an “imbalance” in the proceedings.
Google argued that it needed more time because, unlike the Justice Department, it did not have the benefit of an investigation “with the subpoena power of the federal government.”
Google told the judge that the case “presents extremely important and complex issues, the resolution of which will affect businesses across the United States.”
The judge’s order did not set the start of the trial.
A Justice Department spokesperson and a Google representative had no comment Friday.
The Justice Department and eight states filed the case in January, seeking to force Google to sell its ad management suite, alleging the company illegally stifled competition in ad technology. The case is one of two antitrust actions by the Justice Department against Google.
The other, filed in October 2020 and challenging Google’s search business, is scheduled for trial in Washington, DC federal court in September.
Google has denied the claims in both cases.
The Eastern District of Virginia is colloquially known as a “rocket file” for the pace of its proceedings.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, assigned to the digital advertising case, will preside over the January pretrial conference.