EU General Court Upholds €2.42 Billion Fine on Google [1]
On November 10, 2021, the General Court of the European Union (EUGC) dismissed, in Case T-612/17 [3], Google’s action against the Commission’s finding that “Google abused its dominant position by favouring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison shopping services,” and upheld the fine imposed on Google. According to a EUGC press release [4], on June 27, 2017, the Commission found in Case AT.39740 [5] that Google, by favoring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison services, “abused its dominant position on the market for online general search services,” and, imposed a pecuniary penalty of £2.42 billion on Google. Google and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) brought an action against the decision. The EUGC dismissed, for the most part, the action by recognizing “the anticompetitive nature of the practice at issue,” confirming the Commission’s decision on harmful effects of Google’s practice on competition, and ruling out “any objective justifications for Google’s conduct.” On the other hand, the EUGC annulled the infringement decision in respect of the general search services market by considering that “the Commission did not establish that Google’s conduct had had – even potentially – anticompetitive effects on the market.” However, the EUGC, by stating that a partial annulment has no impact on the fine, confirmed the pecuniary penalty amount imposed on Google.