Yelp sues Google, alleging illegal dominance of local search

A new chapter in Google’s antitrust troubles opened yesterday with Yelp filing a lawsuit alleging that Google’s monopoly in search has allowed it to illegally dominate the local search and local search advertising markets.

Yelp will argue that Google harms consumers by promoting its own inferior local search product over other local search providers, stifling competition and increasing costs for its rivals. Yelp is claiming damages in an amount to be calculated, the damages to be treble under the 1914 Clayton Act.

The full complaint is here.

Why we care. Having just been hit over the head with a major loss in the DoJ’s antitrust case alleging an illegal monopoly in search and text advertising, it seems Google may now be the target of further claims from individual corporations that can show harm.

We’ll leave it to the lawyers to adjudicate whether the DoJ’s success will put wind in the sails of claims like Yelp’s. But Google would surely rather be doing things other than defend itself in court.

Dig deeper: Why Google lost: The DoJ’s case in 11 slides

“Wilful anticompetitive conduct.” Yelp issued the following statement:

“Yelp’s antitrust lawsuit against Google addresses how Google abuses its illegal monopoly in general search to engage in anticompetitive conduct, including self-preferencing its own inferior local product, to dominate the local search and local search advertising markets. For years, Google has leveraged its monopoly in general search to pad its own bottom line at the expense of what’s best for consumers, innovation, and fair competition. By willfully engaging in exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct, Google has driven traffic and revenue away from competitors, made it harder for them to scale, and increased their costs, while degrading consumer choice, to grow its own market power.

Judge Amit Mehta’s recent ruling in the government’s antitrust case against Google, finding Google illegally maintained its monopoly in general search, is a watershed moment in antitrust law, and provides a strong foundation for Yelp’s case against Google. In addition to injunctive relief, Yelp seeks a remedy that ensures Google can no longer self-preference in local search. The harms caused by Google’s self-preferencing are not unique to Yelp, and we look forward to telling our story in court.”Aaron Schur, Yelp general counsel