Smart Finance app learned that US merchant review website Yelp (YELP.US) has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google (GOOGL.US), accusing it of abusing its dominant position to control the local search and related advertising markets, thereby stifling competition.

The company claims that Google uses its monopoly position in general search to divert traffic from local search competitors and its own search engine.

Yelp claims, 'Google's plan prevents businesses from reaching customers without paying Google, and prevents competitors from gaining traffic and revenue that would enable them to scale, thus constituting a competitive restraint on Google.'

'Google's self-preference and gatekeeper behavior has resulted in stagnant or reduced traffic for Yelp and other local search competitors, despite the objective fact that the latter provides better service, as confirmed by Google's own quality indicators,' Yelp said in the lawsuit.

This lawsuit points out that the US government scored a landmark antitrust victory against Google after the judge ruled that Google maintained its search monopoly through exclusive distribution agreements.

Yelp's legal challenge suggests that more companies may consider suing Google for alleged anticompetitive behavior. Yelp mentioned other specialized platforms in the search ecosystem, such as Expedia (EXPE.US), Glassdoor, and Zillow (Z.US), in the lawsuit.

A Google spokesperson responded, 'Yelp's allegations are not new. Similar allegations were dismissed by judges in both the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case several years ago and a recent case brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). We will appeal the aspects of the ruling Yelp mentioned. Google will vigorously defend itself against Yelp's baseless claims.'