WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The federal judge hearing both the US Department of Justice and antitrust cases against Google said on Thursday that he wanted states to hand over documents to the search and advertising giant on Feb. 4 as part of preparation for trial.
Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the states, led by Colorado, to begin handing over materials they intended to use in the case next month, rejecting a mid-March date the states have suggested.
Regarding the Justice Department case, John Schmidtlein, a Google attorney, said that the material the Alphabet Inc search engine and software unit had received from the government so far contained nothing from Microsoft Corp, a rival of Google. Schmidtlein said he expected a large amount of material from Microsoft.
Kenneth Dintzer, who represents the Justice Department, said he expected much of that material to be turned over to Google’s lawyers on Jan. 29.
He noted that some of the data that was collected was files of such size that it had to be physically transferred by a person from the Justice Department to a hard drive located in the area where security was high following the attack on the Capitol. of January 6.
The Justice Department lawsuit, filed in October, focused on Google’s search and search ads, while the state case, filed in December, also accused Google of extending its dominance to devices such as speakers, televisions and even smart cars.
Google denied wrongdoing.
In a previous status hearing, Judge Amit Mehta provisionally set a trial date of September 12, 2023. The two cases have been combined in terms of pre-trial cases.
Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by David Gregorio