Yelp Advances Tying Claim in Google Search Antitrust Lawsuit

Yelp Inc. can proceed with an antitrust lawsuit against Google LLC after a California federal court declined to toss amended claims that the tech search giant illegally directed users of its general search to its own local services.

Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen revived Yelp’s claims that Google coerced search users into consuming Google’s own content when looking for local businesses and services instead of allowing traffic to flow to Yelp and other websites.

The judge said that Yelp, which sued Google last year in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, had added a more convincing ...