When Adtech Seeks Redress: Legal Action Against Google’s Monopoly Grip

Two and a quarter years after the Department of Justice filed its landmark adtech lawsuit against Google in the so-called rocket docket of the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a sweeping spring 2025 decision primarily in the government’s favor. She found that Google violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act by tying its publisher ad server (DFP) to its ad exchange (AdX) and by willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power in two markets for open web display advertising. In the fall of 2025, the court moved to the separate, highly anticipated remedies phase. These deliberations unfolded at a moment of heightened attention across the antitrust community.

Just weeks earlier, a related antitrust case involving the same parties reached its remedy stage in the District of Columbia. In the Google search litigation, Judge Amit Mehta declined to order structural relief and instead adopted a narrower set of behavioral measures, which many observers, including financial analysts, described as a slap on the wrist. This raised an immediate question for practitioners and industry experts: Would that decision influence the parties’ positions in the adtech case, and would it shape Judge Brinkema’s own approach to remedies? The court also faced a surge of interest from third parties seeking to participate through amicus briefs, prompting important questions about the role of outside stakeholders in high-impact antitrust remedy proceedings.

This course offers a comprehensive and practical exploration of these issues. Attendees will review the modern case law governing antitrust remedies, compare the competing proposals submitted by the parties, and gain essential context for understanding Judge Brinkema’s final decision.

This course for attorneys at all levels provides a timely, insightful, and accessible guide to one of the most consequential antitrust remedy battles in recent years.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify core principles of antitrust remedies.
2. Analyze specific remedy proposals.
3. Compare antitrust remedies case law across jurisdictions.