Director Malcolm Venville is said to have departed bicoastal/international Propaganda Films to join bicoastal 8Media….New York-based executive producer Bill Perna has exited bicoastal M-80….Laura Howard, formerly head of sales and client-direct business at bicoastal Tool of North America, is launching Los Angeles-based production company Slo Graffiti, a division of Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles….Simpson Films, New York, and director Jerry Simpson have gone independent, having ended an affiliation with bicoastal and Chicago-based Crossroads Films. Simpson Films is also currently seeking national representation after parting ways with Lew & Co., New York….Director Brian Scott Weber has joined No Prisoners, the Santa Monica shop headed by executive producer Bruce Martin….Word is that director Ashley Beck is joining Gas.Food & Lodging, Culver City, Calif….Director Tricia Caruso has signed with Highway 61, New York, for exclusive commercial representation. Also, executive producer Marc Rosenberg has come aboard the company as executive producer, succeeding Mark Jaffee, who recently left….Open Frame Productions, New York, has signed director Eric Barbier and the directing team Zoo for U.S. representation. Zoo is a three-man collective consisting of Julian Rambaldi, David Fauche and Mathieu Montovani. Based in France, both Barbier and Zoo are repped in Europe by Big Productions, Paris….Envision It, the Miami shop recently formed by Alana Rothlein, has signed directors Sylvie Jacquemin and Ana Coyne for spot representation….Riot, Santa Monica, has expanded its visual effects department, adding effects producer Alix Eglis and effects artist Claus Hansen….Editor Alan Nay has come aboard FilmCore, Santa Monica. He was with Pinnacle Studios, Seattle….Audio mixer Dona Richardson, formerly of AudioBanks, Santa Monica, has joined 48 Windows Music & Mix, Santa Monica….
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More