back to article Google dodges €1.5B EU ads antitrust fine after appeal win

Google has some thank-you cards to send, as the European Union's General Court (GC) has nullified a €1.49 billion ($1.66 billion) fine levied against the tech giant for anti-competitive advertising behavior.  Google was fined the aforementioned amount by the European Commission in 2019 for abusing its dominance in online …

  1. Dinanziame Silver badge
    Devil

    Is there no option between keeping the billion-dollar fine or entirely vacating it? Maybe a teensy-weensy half billion dollars?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why does it have to take so many years for an appeal to go through?

    But then thinking on it, everyone involved is happy because they're paid. Govt lawyers and judges, and company laywers.

    Basically, if you use Google, and pay taxes, you pay twice, no matter who 'wins' these cases.

  3. Sora2566 Silver badge

    What, does the EU really thing Google isn't being anticompetitive? Do they not have eyes and ears?

    1. beast666 Silver badge

      They have eyes, ears and brown envelopes.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You're getting mixed up with right wing UK politicians and brexiters.

    2. sstroud

      No worse than Apple or Microsoft.

    3. Alan Brown Silver badge

      The problem is that laws have letters which must be obeyed, not spirits

      If someone works out a way around the letter of the law which utterly violates the spirit of the law, it's still legal

      In this case, the setup complies with the former but not the latter (we all know how hard it is to change an established supplier etc)

  4. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Flame

    So, Google has weaseled itself out of another fine

    I'm glad to see that Google's ad money is being put to good use.

    I don't who got paid, but it was obviously money well spent.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: So, Google has weaseled itself out of another fine

      The decision was largely technical: the court agreed with the case in general but said that the Commission had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove it. Unsurprisingly, some of the alleged contracts are secret and were, therefore, not given in evidence.

      The Commission can, as it has done with previous judgements, take the case to the ECJ, though the burden of proof will remain a problem. Partly as a result of the case, Google has changed its business practices and this, often as much as any fines, is one of the aims of anti-competitive cases.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: So, Google has weaseled itself out of another fine

        "Unsurprisingly, some of the alleged contracts are secret"

        Very suprisingly if the agreements can't be ordered to be entered into evidence: The court can decree that they don't exist and any legal obligations are void

        Courts usually don't like "secret" agreements which the court is not privy to

  5. DJV Silver badge

    One word...

    Bugger!

  6. Justthefacts Silver badge

    Icera

    So, the EU Commission brought a case in 2019, three years after Brexit. That a *UK* company had been unfairly treated by an *American* company. And the UK company has already gone bankrupt anyway, so doesn’t have any lawyers to represent it after its death.

    But the EU raise a fine “on its behalf”, where the half a billion dollars goes to the EU Commission and none goes to the UK company, which wasn’t in the EU anyway.

    What a protection racket.

    1. X5-332960073452
      FAIL

      Re: Icera

      31 January 2020 - UK leaves the EU - username does not check out

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