Judge Clears Path for $1.72 Billion Damages Claim Against Google Ad Tech

A federal judge in New York has ruled that Google's $1.72 billion damages claims against advertisers can go to trial, allowing publishers to seek compensation for alleged underpayment.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel denied most of Google's summary judgment motions, paving the way for a jury to hear claims that publishers were systematically underpaid through various ad tech mechanisms.

The mechanisms in question include Enhanced Dynamic Allocation, which allowed Google's exchange to cream-skim the most valuable impressions from reserved inventory; Project Bernanke and its successor Global Bernanke, which allegedly implemented a 'bidding ring' declared illegal by the FTC; and Minimum Bid to Win, which depressed publisher prices and discouraged competitors.

The court also let stand publishers' argument that they could not have realistically walked away from AdX, which accounted for 80-90% of their inventory, raising questions about whether price floors or other settings could have reduced exposure.