Judge lets publishers seek $3.2 billion from Google over ad tech

A federal judge in Manhattan cleared USA Today, Daily Mail General and Trust, and a class of roughly 5,000 publishers to take claims worth more than $3.2 billion to jury trials against Google. The cases center on AdX, Google’s exchange that helps match websites’ ad space with buyers; publishers say Google’s alleged dominance of this machinery reduced the revenue and choices available to them. The judge allowed the publisher class to seek about $1.7 billion, with USA Today and Daily Mail pursuing roughly $900 million and $600 million, after rejecting Google’s challenge to the damages models. This is not a ruling that Google owes the money: some claims were dismissed, and Google says it will contest the rest at trial.