NOVEMBER 3, 2000
Ritts/Hayden, Los Angeles, has signed director/cameraman Dariusz (a.k.a. Derek) Wolski for representation in the U.S. spot market….SunSpots, the commercial production house headed by David Dryer and president Linda Dryer, has launched Tantrum, a comedy division that will present director Craig Worsham….Executive producer Charlie Alvaré, a spot industry veteran of both the production house and agency sides of the business, has launched Sanctuary, a Hollywood-based production house….Colorist Jais Thierry Lamaire and his producer/scheduler Julie Airali are departing 525 Studios, Santa Monica, in order to form their own telecine shop, Bobine Video, Santa Monica….Editing and postproduction facility Slingshot, New York, has hired Maria Fugere as a
NOVEMBER 3, 1995
Commercial production industry veteran Rick Wagonheim resigned as president of Full Blue, New York, last week to take on the role of executive producer/director of sales at bicoastal BFCS. At Full Blue, partner/executive VP/executive producer Mary Beth Dooley has been upped to president….Wendy Rosen has joined Mad River Post, New York, after spending the past year freelancing….Suzan Pitt, an animation director, has joined commercial animation house The Ink Tank, New York, as its director of animation….Composer Daniel Obst of Daniel Obst Music (formerly Big Tracks) and sound designer Warren Dewey of Warren Dewey Sound Design have joined to form music/sound design company Daniel and Dewey….Michael O’Neill, president of Optimus, Chicago, has announced that he will resign at year’s end….
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