U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Tuesday in a ruling said Fotobom Media can pursue claims for now that Google unlawfully has made exclusive deals to block Fotobom’s “Keyboard+” and other rivals from being preloaded on devices as the default smart keyboard.
San Francisco-based Fotobom sued Google in 2022 in Washington, D.C., federal court, alleging it was coercing device makers to use its “Gboard” keyboard as the default.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A lawyer for Fotobom, John Thorne, said Mehta's ruling allowed his client to "move forward with the core of our complaint." The lawsuit alleged among other claims attempted monopolization of the Android keyboard market.
Google has denied any wrongdoing and said Fotobom’s lawsuit was filled with “factually unsupported rhetoric.”
Fotobom distributes a keyboard that it markets as having better functionality than traditional keyboards. The company’s app offers search results, predictive text and other features.
Mehta’s ruling rejected parts of Fotobom’s lawsuit that said Google was unfairly maintaining its dominance for web search. The judge said Fotobom’s keyboard is not a search engine and doesn’t compete with Google.
Fotobom, which launched its keyboard in 2015, is seeking damages for alleged violations of U.S. antitrust law.
Mehta found Fotobom's allegations "plausibly establish the conditions for monopolization."
Fotobom’s case is among other pending lawsuits challenging Google’s business practices. Google faces an array of state and U.S. federal claims over its search and digital advertising businesses.
Mehta is presiding over the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit accusing Google of unlawfully paying billions of dollars to device makers to maintain its market power for internet search. Google has denied violating competition law.
Closing arguments in that non-jury trial are expected in May.
The case is Fotobom Media v Google, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:22-cv-00712-APM.
For plaintiff: John Thorne of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick
For defendant: John Schmidtlein of Williams & Connolly
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