India Internet News
9 Antitrust Complaints Has Been Filed Against Google
04 August 2011
Google is experiencing about 9 antitrust complaints which EU regulators are now inspecting, as said by two sources, since the competitors built up the pressure on the No. 1 search engine of the globe. Until now, the European Commission has only ratified four cases against Google. The increasing number of new complaints could widen the EU regulators' ongoing inspection and sustain the pressure on the company to reach a settlement.
According to the first source, who refused to give the details considering the sensitivity of the matter, "The Commission has nine formal complaints now. The new complaints come from small companies." Another source said three cases arrived from national regulators among which two were new ones. But the Commission claimed that it had nothing to add and Google could not be approached for remark.
Simon Holmes, the chief of EU and competition law in law company SJ Berwin, believes that the increase in the number of complaints emphasizes Google's dominant stance but does not essentially means bad news for the company. "Google's strong position means there are lots of interests involved. But there is nothing wrong per se in having a strong position. The mere proliferation of complaints doesn't increase the likelihood of infringements. It means there are issues certain parties want to be investigated."
The Commission opened an inspection on Google in November last year after the three small companies claimed that Google downgraded their sites in Web search engines because they were competitors. Microsoft smashed up its competition with Google by filing its first-ever complaint to the EU regulator in March this year, stating that Google systematically blocked Internet search race.
The Commission may sue the companies up to 10 percent of their worldwide turnover for violating EU rules. It has in recent years exerted billion-euro penalties on Microsoft and Intel for anticompetitive conduct. The US Federal Trade Commission is also inspecting Google following complaints that it misused its market dominance. The US Senate's antitrust panel will retain a hearing on Google's market strike on September 21.