WASHINGTON - The Open Markets Institute filed an amicus brief in Ohio v. Google, a case in which the State of Ohio seeks to designate Google as a common carrier under state law in order to stop Google from preferencing it’s own products and services. 

The brief makes the case that: 

1. States have longstanding authority to treat companies that serve the public as common carriers; 

2. Common carrier rules of nondiscrimination and equal access do not raise First Amendment concerns for Google or impede the company’s rights; and 

3. The courts have applied the common carriage concept dynamically as new industries and technologies emerged over the years. 

“Google is far and away the most dominant player in the online search market: the platform through which billions of people seek or share information and news, buy, sell, and advertise goods and services, and more,” said Tara Pincock, Open Markets policy counsel and an author of the brief. “This dominance gives Google vast powers to harm consumers and its business competitors. Lawmakers established common carrier laws to prevent exactly this kind of market power abuse from companies that broadly serve and have great influence over the public and our economic liberties.” 

Open Markets also filed an amicus brief in two combined cases that raised similer questions about states’ ability to impose modern-day applications of common carrier law, NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice. 

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Read full brief below or download here.