Google tees up venue clash over U.S. advertising antitrust lawsuit

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) - Lawyers for Alphabet Inc's Google LLC on Wednesday said they will ask a federal judge in Virginia to move the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit to Manhattan federal court, where the company is already fighting claims that it has abused its market power for online advertising technology.

In a filing in the Manhattan litigation, Google's attorneys said transferring the lawsuit was necessary for "judicial efficiency and to mitigate the obvious risk of inconsistent judgments." Google said the new DOJ case, filed jointly with eight states last month, which also alleges advertising-related abuses, overlaps with multidistrict litigation in New York that formed in 2021.