Advertising exchange PubMatic has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of illegally monopolizing the ad technology market. PubMatic is seeking billions of dollars in damages.
This lawsuit marks the second time an advertising exchange has sued Google since a federal judge ruled in April that the search giant had illegally monopolized ad exchanges and ad servers. The judge has set another trial for this month to determine whether Google should be forced to sell off parts of its advertising business due to its illegal conduct.
PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel says his company’s lawsuit is not just about money, but about ensuring that online advertising markets work. Goel stated that for many years, no matter how well the company innovated, there was a barrier holding it back. He explained that barrier was not the limits of their technology but Google’s illegal monopoly, adding that every time PubMatic adapted or innovated, Google found new ways to stack the deck.
PubMatic works with websites to sell advertising, competing directly with Google Ad Manager, which was formerly known as DoubleClick. According to testimony from Google’s antitrust trial last year, the company considered buying PubMatic in 2011 but ended up purchasing advertising technology provider AdMeld instead.