United States of America: Ruling on summary judgement in Arizona lawuit against Google for location tracking

The summary judgement requested by Google on the lawsuit of the Arizona State Attorney General regarding location tracking has been partially rejected by an Arizona judge. In particular, the Google motion sustained that the alleged fraud or deceit was not made in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise, which is a requirement under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act. The judge partially accepted the allegations by Google, ruling that there is no support for the Arizona theory that the sale of ad placements to third parties is connected to a consumer sale (and a consumer fraud). Therefore the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act cannot be applied in this case. However, the judge also argued the accusations on the Google sale of advertising to third parties could be relevant at trial, even if they do not constitute consumer fraud. The Court does not rule on the admissibility of this aspect, and a new assessment will have to await the trial proceedings.