Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust suits over AI Overviews

Judge Amit Mehta dismissed Chegg and Penske Media's antitrust lawsuits against Google on September 30, finding that their complaints did not adequately establish their Sherman Act theories, LetsDataScience reported. The companies challenged Google's use of its search position to obtain publisher content for AI Overviews, its generated search summaries, without compensation. The court rejected the premise that publishers' expectation of referral traffic established an enforceable agreement with Google. It also found that Penske had not plausibly shown Google Search and AI Overviews were separate products for its tying claim. The ruling addresses the sufficiency of these complaints; it does not resolve whether AI Overviews reduce traffic or whether publishers should receive compensation.