EU Advocate General advises top court to toss Google appeal against €4B fine
Case over bundling Play Store with Chrome and Google Search set to continue
A European court has advised [PDF] that Google's appeal against a ruling that found it had abused its market dominance should be dismissed.
In 2018, the European Union General Court imposed a fine on Google of €4.343 billion, arguing it had abused its dominant position in the mobile phone market. The court said Google imposed anticompetitive contractual restrictions on manufacturers and network operators by effectively saying they could only get the Play Store app on devices if they also pre-installed Google Search and Chrome. Google also made it a condition that hardware makers do not sell devices running versions of Android not authorized by the Chocolate Factory.
Google also offered a share of advertising revenue to manufacturers and network operators so long as they did not pre-install another general search service on any device within an agreed portfolio.
The European Commission said that, taken together, these terms meant Google was protecting and strengthening its dominant position in search when the importance of mobile internet was growing.
Google has since made changes to the mobile OS, including browser and search engine choice screens and rival app stores.
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In 2022, Google challenged the Commission's decision before the General Court. A judgment in September annulled only the decision related to revenue sharing and reset the fine at €4.124 billion. Google then lodged an appeal before the Court of Justice.
Advocate General Juliane Kokott proposes that the Court of Justice dismiss Google's appeal and stick to the judgment of the General Court. Her opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice and only offers a legal solution to the case, although in more than 80 percent of the cases the AG's recommendation is "broadly" accepted by the judges, a former AG told Berkeley law school.
Judgment will be given at a later date. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
