Google Prevails in Antitrust Suit Claiming GPS Mapping Dominance

Alphabet Inc. has prevailed in an antitrust case accusing the tech giant of using its market power to dominate the GPS navigation market through Waze and Google Maps and inflate the cost of digital mapping services.

Judge Richard Seeborg of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday granted Google’s motion to dismiss, stating the plaintiffs’ antitrust claims are weakened by the fact that several competitors offer mapping services that are “as good as or better in terms of performance and/or cost.”

Digital advertising business Dream Big Media and other plaintiffs filed a proposed class action last year claiming Google forced users of digital-mapping products into a bundle of services known as a “tying” agreement, and then ratcheted up the cost of those products.

However, the presence of competitors that offer similar mapping services to those offered by Google “undermine any argument that each service could be both tying and tied,” Seeborg said in his Thursday order. Competitors to Google’s mapping products include Apple Maps and MapQuest.

The case is one of several aimed at Alphabet’s Google unit over antitrust violations in online markets, including search, advertising, and app distribution through its Play Store.

Google’s $1.1 billion purchase of mapping app Waze in 2013 that made it a leader in maps data drew scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission.

A US antitrust trial that concluded last month is centered on Department of Justice allegations that Google maintained a monopoly over search, where it controls nearly 90% of online queries.

The plaintiffs are represented by ESQgo PC, Nematzadeh PLLC, and Balestriere Fariello. Google is represented by Jones Day.

The case is Dream Big Media Inc. v. Alphabet Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 22-cv-02314, 11/30/23.