September was a busy month for Google, which found itself at the center of all the attention from the Court of Justice of the European Union… and it certainly wasn’t asking for much.
This highly topical legal issue can be explained by the approach adotped by the European Union in recent years, which has chosen to raise its voice against the GAFAMs in an attempt to regulate their practices.
A busy period, then, organized in two stages:
- First half: product comparators, abuse of a dominant position and a record fine
The first of the rulings handed down on 10 September 2024 [Linkea1] is the culmination of a long legal battle, since this procedure was initially initiated by the European Commission in 2010.
In its decision of 27 June 2017, the European Commission criticised Google in particular for “the more favorable positioning and presentation, in Google’s general results pages, of its product comparator compared with competing product comparators”.
The European Commission therefore concluded that Google had abused its dominant position on this market under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and imposed a fine of €2,424,495,000.
Google filed an appeal at the time.
But the Court of Justice of the European Union finally agreed with the European Commission and fined Google once and for all, ruling that Google’s actions constituted an abuse of its dominant position.
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager described the ruling as ‘a great victory for European citizens […]’.
- Second half: advertising network, abuse of dominant position and… cancellation of the fine
The second of the judgments in this Google saga was handed down on 18 September 2024 by the General Court of the European Union. It should be noted that these proceedings were initially initiated by the Commission on 30 November 2010.
In its decision of 20 March 2019, the European Commission found that Google’s inclusion of the exclusivity clause, the premium placement clause , the Google minimum advertising clause and the clause authorizing equivalent advertising in its service agreements with its major clients for online search advertising intermediation services constituted an abuse of a dominant position.
As a result, the European Commission imposed a fine of €1,494,459,000.
Once again, Google has lodged an appeal against this decision.
And this time… the European Court of First Instance found that the European Commission “failed to take into account all the relevant circumstances in order to assess the foreclosure effect of that clause”, in particular the assessment of the duration of the clause “during which the direct partners were obliged, by virtue of that clause, to seek Google’s prior authorization before modifying the display of competing advertisements on their results pages”… The European Court of First Instance therefore annulled the fine.
However, nothing is settled yet, as the European Commission can still appeal against this decision…
Watch this out!