Google is bracing for a long battle with the Justice Department, as the judge sets a trial date of late 2023

• The US Justice Department's lawsuit against Google will likely not go to trial until late 2023, as both sides brace for a protracted legal battle.
• In a status hearing on Friday, Judge Amit Mehta set a tentative trial date of September 12, 2023. It underlines the significance of this ambitious antitrust battle.
• Two other lawsuits were filed against Google by groups of states this week. At least one of those could be consolidated into the DOJ suit.

The US Department of Justice's lawsuit against Google will likely not go to trial until late 2023, as both sides brace for a protracted legal battle.

The DOJ filed the suit on October 20, accusing the company of using its market dominance in search and search advertising to hobble competitors.

In a status hearing held Friday, Judge Amit Mehta set a tentative trial date of September 12, 2023 for the trial, underlining the size and significance of one of the largest antitrust actions ever taken against a tech company.

A DOJ lawyer also said they expected the trial to run between 10 and 12 weeks, which would take it to almost the end of the year, although Google's counsel predicted a shorter timeline.

Just this week, two different groups of states filed additional lawsuits against Google. In a suit filed Wednesday, 10 Republican states led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Google of anti-competitive advertising practices.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 38 states and territories filed a suit focusing on Google's search practices. Like the DOJ case, it accuses Google of using exclusionary agreements across different distribution channels to keep users locked to its search engine.

But it also goes further in alleging that Google uses "discriminatory conduct" in search results pages to limit competitors' access to consumers.

During the status hearing on Friday, Google's counsel proposed the bipartisan lawsuit be consolidated with the DOJ case, which may happen as the parties move towards trial.