Advertiser’s Suit Against Google Loses for Third (and Final) Time–Abid v. Google

I previously described this case: “Abid markets cancer-curing honey. He bought AdWords to promote his MightyHoney website. Google rejected the ads.” The court has dismissed this pro se lawsuit twice already, each time without prejudice. Prior blog posts from April and June. This time, Google gets its dismissal with prejudice. A few “high”lights:

Fraud. “assuming the parties entered into a contract, Plaintiff does not allege any facts that Google entered into the alleged contract with the intent not to perform under it.”

Unlawful Restraint of Trade. “Plaintiff fails to allege facts that Google engaged in any misconduct by refusing to run his advertisement, let alone that such refusal was the result of an agreement to restrain trade or competition. That LegitScript works with Google to flag advertisements that do not comply with FDA regulations does not, in and of itself, suggest a conspiracy.”

Sherman Act. “Plaintiff alleges Google “adwords maintains a near monopoly in online search.” He further alleges that by denying him access to the Adwords platform, Google has “acted exclusionary in a legally anticompetitive way.” These conclusory statements are insufficient to state a claim. In fact, Plaintiff undermines his own allegation by alleging that Google maintains a “near monopoly” while elsewhere acknowledging various other on-line advertising platforms, such as “Microsoft Bing” and “Facebook ads.””

Case citation: Abid v. Google LLC, 2018 WL 3458546 (N.D. Cal. July 18, 2018).