Google called for the court to dismiss the lawsuit in the filing and challenged issues point-by-point.
The response won’t necessarily hold sway. The DOJ contended in its lawsuit that Google’s high-profile deals with phone makers like Apple and Samsung make it harder for rivals to assail the company’s search leadership — that can still be true regardless of how easy it is to switch to other search engines.
There would still be problems even if Google succeeded in ending the lawsuit. The tech firm is facing two multi-state lawsuits, one led by Colorado and one by Texas, that accuse it of abusing its commanding positions in advertising and search. Google could face significant repercussions if any one of the cases succeeds, provided there isn’t a settlement instead.