Google has just opened its new French headquarters, but it seems that they won't be receiving a warm welcome in the nearest future. The reason is that the company has recently landed itself in hot water over the abuse of its dominant position one more time, facing a lawsuit that demands over $30 million for damages to some navigation software firm.
French company named NAVX is currently suing Google in the Paris Commercial Court over what it believes to be wrongdoing about blocking advertisements from the company. NAVX has appealed to the local antitrust authorities over its treatment by the search giant where it was discovered that competition legislation has been violated. The search giant was ordered to reinstate the NAVX’s advertising, as well as clarify the conditions of its Adwords service for further use. NAVX, which offers content for GPS and smartphones, confirmed that Google did agree to do so.
Nevertheless, the French firm acknowledged that it has lost out on a load of money because of Google’s meddling, so it has demanded damages of around $31 million. NAVX Chief Executive Officer Jean Cherbonnier has announced that the dominant position of Google on the advertising market connected with search engines can’t be disputed, particularly after the investigation carried out by the French Antitrust Authority that concluded a year ago that the search giant undoubtedly holds a dominant position.
NAVX is currently asking the Paris Commercial Court to hand down ruling saying that Google abused its dominant position. The company also hopes the court will order Google to pay damages. Meanwhile, such court case couldn’t come at a worse time for the international corporation. Its CEO has just met with European Commission antitrust boss in a kind of last ditch attempt to stop a formal investigation into the company landing the search giant with a statement of objection over its practices.
Truly, it looks like NAVX isn’t the only company out for Google’s blood after the latter allegedly mistreated them. Such firms as Ciao and Foundem are also enraged at Google’s activities and are currently pushing for intervention of European Commission into what they see as bullying and bullish behavior. In other words, it is very unlikely that some other companies making detrimental claims against the search giant while talks are ongoing do Google any favors.
Showing posts with label Antitrust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antitrust. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Search Site Accused Google Of Antitrust
Product search online service called Foundem has said that Google was directly targeting household name search websites via Google Panda, with the algorithm being central to ongoing antitrust cases. The website kicked off the antitrust investigation of EC against Google after it monitored their website drop down the page rankings upon introduction of Universal Search four years ago.
After the website first presented the case against the search giant, both sides of the Atlantic launched an official investigation, which has centered around the company’s leveraging of its dominance, 95% of the European market, to favor its lucrative forays into other things like maps and product search. Today, with an ongoing high profile investigation carried out by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States, Foundem thinks that the search giant is close to facing retribution from the watchdogs upon flouting anticompetitive legislation with Panda.
Foundem owners have put the case for the search giant’s abuse of its dominant position to both the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. They claim that Google has upped its attack on rival services by using Panda update to its search algorithm. The service founders hope the European Commission will understand the urgency of these issues and come to a decision soon, hopefully finding the search giant guilty of abusing its dominant position in both search and search advertising. Indeed, Foundem has some compelling evidence, aimed to prove that Google has abused its position while moving into product search, and now it is trying to stop Google from sending rival companies spiraling down search rankings. This past September Google boss was called before the Senate in order to discuss antitrust allegations.
The plaintiffs claim that the search giant needs to clearly disclose when it inserts its own services into its own search results. They also want Google to stop discriminating in favor of its own services. However, the European Commission can only apply a 10% fine in the best course of action, while the money doesn’t matter here, because the fine of this size is undoubtedly insignificant to Google. Instead, the innovative businesses crushed by the engine’s tactics are looking forward to a set of remedies able to stop Google’s anticompetitive behavior.
After the website first presented the case against the search giant, both sides of the Atlantic launched an official investigation, which has centered around the company’s leveraging of its dominance, 95% of the European market, to favor its lucrative forays into other things like maps and product search. Today, with an ongoing high profile investigation carried out by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States, Foundem thinks that the search giant is close to facing retribution from the watchdogs upon flouting anticompetitive legislation with Panda.
Foundem owners have put the case for the search giant’s abuse of its dominant position to both the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. They claim that Google has upped its attack on rival services by using Panda update to its search algorithm. The service founders hope the European Commission will understand the urgency of these issues and come to a decision soon, hopefully finding the search giant guilty of abusing its dominant position in both search and search advertising. Indeed, Foundem has some compelling evidence, aimed to prove that Google has abused its position while moving into product search, and now it is trying to stop Google from sending rival companies spiraling down search rankings. This past September Google boss was called before the Senate in order to discuss antitrust allegations.
The plaintiffs claim that the search giant needs to clearly disclose when it inserts its own services into its own search results. They also want Google to stop discriminating in favor of its own services. However, the European Commission can only apply a 10% fine in the best course of action, while the money doesn’t matter here, because the fine of this size is undoubtedly insignificant to Google. Instead, the innovative businesses crushed by the engine’s tactics are looking forward to a set of remedies able to stop Google’s anticompetitive behavior.
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