EU stalls Googorola anti-competition probe

Rivals invited to have their say first

The EU has temporarily suspended its probe into Google's planned buyout of Motorola Mobility because it wants more information, including comments from Google's competitors.

The antitrust authority has been reviewing Google's merger with Motorola Mobility for breaches of European competition law. The EU Competition Commission announced today that it has halted the review because its wanted to see "certain documents essential to the evaluation of the case", according to EU spokesperson Amelia Torres.

The notification published in Eur-Lex, the European Law journal, states that that information would include the observations of "interested third parties":

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Google told Bloomberg that it still believes that their deal will go through: “We’re confident the commission will conclude that this acquisition is good for competition, and we’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review.” ®