May 3-June 4/Hollywood: World Animation Celebration. (818) 575-9615; fax: (818) 575-9620; wacfestusa@aol.comA.
– May 31/New York: Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation in Communication Award call for entries deadline. www.saatchi-saatchi.comA.
– June 5/New York: New York Women in Communications Inc. (NYWICI)’s June Cocktails & Conversations with Deborah Bright, Ph.D. Amy Peloso, (212) 297-2126A.
– June 6-7/Princeton, N.J.: Marketers’ Creativity 2000. www.kidpowerx.comA.
– June 6-7/New York: 2000 AICP Show & Lecture Series at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). (212) 475-2600….
– June 7/New York: The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the American Television Commercial. (212) 475-2600….
– June 13/New York: N.Y. Freelance Producers Network meeting at Napoleon Art & Production. (917) 933-5566A.
– June 14-15/Chicago: U.S. International Film and Video Festival at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Hotel. (630) 834-7773; fax: (630) 834-5565; www.filmfestawards.comA.
– June 16/Los Angeles: MVPA Director’s Cuts 2000 submission deadline. (323) 469-9494A.
– June 20-22/Las Vegas: AAF American Advertising Conference. Karen Cohn, (202) 898-0089; kcohn@aaf.orgA.
– June 24/Los Angeles: Cine Gear Expo 2000. (323) 256-9056; fax: (323) 254-8696; details323@earthlink.netA.
– June 26-27/Toronto: Kid Power Canada. www.kidpowerx.comA.
– July 11-12/Chicago: eKid Power. www.kidpowerx.comA.
– July 14-16/North Hollywood: VES 2000: A Festival of Visual Effects. Addie Bua, (818) 708-3355; adgogirl@aol.comA.
– July 29-Aug. 4/London: Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. 0207 7851 6207; www.sohoshorts.comA.
– Sept. 13/San Francisco: The 9th Annual AICP Show at SF MoMA hosted by AICP/West. Jessica Sumption, (323) 960-4763….
– Sept. 13-14/Miami: Kid Power Latin America. www.kidpowerx.com….
– Sept. 20/Chicago: Teen Power 2000. www.kidpowerx.com….
– Sept. 21/Winston-Salem, N.C.: The 9th Annual AICP Show at the North Carolina School of the Arts hosted by AICP/Southeast. Tom Gibney, (615) 354-9001….
– September 22-25/Los Angeles: 109th AES Convention. (212) 661-8528; fax: (212) 682-0477; hq@aes.org; www.aes.orgA.
– October 27/Los Angeles: The IDA Awards. (310) 284-8422, ext. 26; fax: (310) 785-9334; idaawards@documentary.orgA.
– Nov. 11/Miami: The 9th Annual AICP Show hosted by AICP/Florida. Peggy McKinley, (305) 666-2528….
– Nov. 16/Chicago: The 9th Annual AICP Show at the Chicago Historical Society hosted by AICP/Midwest. Alan Sadler, (312) 573-6001….
– Nov. 17/Dallas: The 9th Annual AICP Show at the Hall of State hosted by AICP/Southwest. M.L. Nelson, (214) 741-3336….
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 — 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