GoKawiilJudge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust suits against Google over AI search
US District Judge Amit Mehta threw out separate antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media against Google, both alleging that AI Overviews and related features harmed their website traffic. Mehta found that Google had no formal agreement with either company to send them search traffic, so antitrust law did not apply to the dispute. The same judge previously ruled against Google in the DOJ's broader search antitrust case, though penalties there were lighter than prosecutors sought.
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The ruling suggests publishers may struggle to use antitrust law to challenge AI features that repurpose their content without compensation, since courts may treat the traffic relationship between sites and search engines as an expectation rather than a binding agreement. This could narrow the legal avenues available to media companies worried about AI-driven traffic declines, pushing them toward other legal theories like copyright claims instead. The decision also shows that even a judge who has found Google liable for antitrust violations elsewhere can still rule against similar claims in a different context.
- Judge Mehta dismissed antitrust lawsuits from Chegg and Penske against Google's AI search features.
- The ruling hinged on the absence of a formal agreement between Google and the publishers regarding traffic.
- The decision may limit publishers' ability to use antitrust law against AI-driven traffic losses, even as copyright-based challenges remain possible.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-01
Published there as: “Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust lawsuits targeting Google AI search”
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