World Courant
LONDON — Google on Wednesday received a lawsuit in opposition to a European antitrust high quality of 1.49 billion euros imposed 5 years in the past which centered on its internet advertising actions.
The Common Courtroom of the EU has dominated that it’s annulling a 2019 high quality imposed by the European Fee, the lead enforcer of the EU’s antitrust coverage throughout 27 international locations.
“The Common Courtroom annuls the Fee’s resolution in its entirety,” the Courtroom mentioned in a press launch.
The fee’s ruling involved a small a part of Google’s promoting enterprise: adverts that the US tech large bought alongside Google’s search outcomes on third-party web sites.
Regulators accused Google of together with exclusivity clauses in its contracts that prohibited these web sites from operating adverts bought in an analogous manner by Google’s rivals. The fee mentioned in imposing the high quality that Google’s habits left advertisers and web site house owners with much less selection and was more likely to face increased costs that might be handed on to customers.
However the courtroom mentioned the fee “erred” in its evaluation of these clauses. The fee failed to point out that Google’s contracts stifle innovation, harmed customers or helped the corporate preserve and strengthen its dominant place in nationwide on-line search promoting markets, the courtroom mentioned.
The ruling may be appealed, however solely in cassation, to the Courtroom of Justice, the bloc’s highest courtroom.
