The EU General Court has largely rejected Google’s action against the European Commission’s decision on it, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday 10 November (Case T-612/17), finding that the company abused its dominant position by favouring its own shopping comparison service over competing shopping comparison services. The General Court has also upheld the €2.42 billion fine imposed on Google on 27 June 2017 (see EUROPE 11817/1).
However, Google may still challenge this decision before the highest court, the EU Court of Justice.
In its judgment, the General Court essentially dismissed the action brought by the two companies (Google and its parent company, Alphabet) and confirmed the fine imposed by the Commission. The General Court recognised the anticompetitive nature of the challenged practice.
Indeed, the judges found that by favouring its own shopping comparison service on its general results pages by means of a privileged presentation and positioning, while relegating to the background, on these pages, the results of competing comparison services, by means of ranking algorithms, Google had departed from competition on the merits. The practice at issue was liable lead to a weakening of competition on the market, according to the General Court, which continued: Google favours its own comparison service over competing comparison services, rather than a better result over another.
In addition, the General Court rejected Google’s argument that competition in the market for product comparison services has remained strong due to the presence of the merchant platforms in that market. The General Court confirmed the Commission’s analysis that these platforms are not on the same market.
Finally, the General Court dismissed the existence of any objective justifications for Google’s conduct, on the grounds, in particular, that the company still fails to demonstrate any efficiency gains linked to this practice that would offset its negative effects on competition.
Positive reactions. The Commission welcomed that the judgment makes it clear that Google’s behaviour was illegal and provides the necessary legal clarity to the market. “The Commission will continue to use all tools at its disposal to address the role of big digital platforms on which businesses and users depend to, respectively, access end users and access digital services”, it says.
“Today is a good day for competition in digital markets. This verdict sends a clear signal that even ‘Big Tech’ companies cannot do what as they please in digital markets. Rules are rules, even for Google,” said Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany).
Link to the judgment: https://bit.ly/3kobflO (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)