Judge sets November deadline for Google’s initial response to U.S. antitrust case

WASHINGTON: Alphabet’s Google must tell a district court how it will respond to a federal antitrust lawsuit by mid-November, with the two sides making initial disclosures later in the month, U.S. Judge Amit Mehta said in a brief order Friday.

The U.S. Justice Department sued Google on Oct. 20, accusing the $1 trillion company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech in decades.

The federal government alleges that Google acted unlawfully to maintain its position in search as well as search advertising. Google has denied any wrongdoing.

In a status conference on Friday, John Schmidtlein, who represents Google, agreed to tell the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Nov. 13 if the search and advertising giant planned to ask for the case to be thrown out on summary judgment.