Google wins dismissal of U.S. consumer lawsuit over mobile search

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco on Friday dismissed the consumers’ antitrust lawsuit against Google.

A federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google of unlawfully dominating web search on smartphones, but said the consumers should get another chance after a Washington, D.C. court separately ruled the tech giant spent billions to create an illegal monopoly.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco on Friday dismissed the consumers' antitrust lawsuit against Google, finding they had not provided enough factual evidence showing any harm from the Alphabet unit's market dominance.

Lin said the plaintiffs could file an amended lawsuit, citing the D.C. court’s blockbuster August 6 ruling that found Google's exclusive contracts with Apple and other companies helped it create an illegal monopoly over search engines.

“Although these findings were made in another litigation involving different issues, they indicate that plaintiffs may be able to plausibly allege facts about consumer harm from the alleged anticompetitive effects of Google’s default agreements,” Lin wrote in her order.

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Google declined to comment.

An attorney for the consumers, Joseph Alioto, said on Monday they planned to amend the lawsuit.