GOOGLE hit with rap sheet five years in the making...

Abuse of Dominance: Europe against Google, a long struggle



The European Commission announced Wednesday that Google was guilty in its eyes of 'abuse of dominant' position. This is the culmination of nearly five years of investigation, but the beginning of a long legal marathon.

Google is guilty in the eyes of the European Commission. Brussels, for the first time Wednesday, April 15, formally accused the US giant of abusing its dominant position in the field of Internet search. All of this because of a website 'price comparison' affair.

In fact, the letter of objection sent to the star of Silicon Valley, only takes up the case of Google Shopping, a web service which supposedly allows users to find the best prices for a product on the web .

"Negative impact for consumers"

After more than four years of investigation following complaints from competitors of the search engine, the European Commission wants to punish Google's pushing of its price comparison service. Since 2008, the US giant has been offering its own results first, even if they were not the most relevant. "The impact is negative for consumers," concludes the European Commission.

€ 600 million euros, or 6 billion?

The European Commission will then, if necessary, set the fine. Those expecting a record $ 6 billion will be disappointed. "The fine is generally from 1 to 2% of revenues and 10%, corresponding to the maximum allowed," said Alexandre Lacresse. In this case, Google would have only 600 million or 1.2 billion € to pay. This is less impressive and comparable to the "record" fine of 1.05 billion € imposed on Intel in 2009.

http://www.france24.com/fr/20150415-google-abus-position-dominante-bruxelles-commission-europeenne-amende-milliards/