Google's fight against EU antitrust fine comes up against critical judge

This post was originally published on this site

https://i-invdn-com.akamaized.net/trkd-images/LYNXMPEG1C12Y_L.jpg

By Foo Yun Chee

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Google’s battle against a $2.6 billion EU antitrust fine was dealt an apparent setback on Thursday, when one of the judges hearing the case said the company had committed a “clear infraction” in its handling of price-comparison shopping services.

The comments by Colm Mac Eochaidh, one of the panel of five judges, came on day two of a three-day hearing at Europe’s General Court – its second highest – as Google (O:) seeks to overturn the first of a trio of EU antitrust penalties.

In its 2017 decision to impose a 2.4-billion-euro ($2.6 billion) fine, the European Commission said the world’s biggest internet search engine unfairly favoured its own price-comparison shopping service over smaller European rivals.

Irish judge Mac Eochaidh concurred.

“For me, this case really is visibility. This is a very important point in the case. It is perfectly apparent what has happened is this: you have promoted your own service and demoted that of others,” he said. “That is a clear infraction.”

Mac Eochaidh repeatedly asked Google what it had refused to supply to its competitors that had forced them to air their grievances to EU enforcers.

Google’s lawyer Christopher Thomas faulted the Commission for not taking Amazon (O:) into account when defining the market for assessing the competitive harm caused by Google’s practices.

Regulators were right to discount Amazon’s role, said Thomas Hoppner, lawyer for several German complainants.

“Merchant platforms and CSSs (comparison shopping services) simply cater to different needs of different types of online retailers. These different needs mean that CSSs cannot easily be transformed into merchant platforms and vice versa,” he said.

“The entire Google story that the condemned conduct was a means to compete with Amazon has no merits.”

Judges are expected to issue their ruling next year, which can be appealed to the Court of Justice, Europe’s highest.

The case is T-612/17 Google and Alphabet v Commission.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.