Google Beats News Publishers’ ‘Monopoly Broth’ Antitrust Claims

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is free of a case alleging the tech giant abused its power in the search services market, after a federal judge said that news publisher plaintiffs lacked antitrust standing and their claims were time-barred.

Helena World Chronicle LLC and Emmerich Newspapers Inc. didn’t show they were participants in the market that they allege was restrained, meaning they failed to establish antitrust standing, said Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a March 20 opinion.

In his ruling, Mehta held that the two digital-publisher plaintiffs weren’t directly injured by Google’s ...