WebProNews

Tag: Antitrust

  • Italy Concludes Google Antitrust Probe

    An antitrust probe that began way back in August of 2008 has at last concluded, and the outcome tends to favor Google.  Italian authorities have decided not fine the company or subject it to any additional regulation.

    Google’s problems began when an Italian organization representing newspaper and periodical publishers claimed its members were being more or less forced to share content on Google News.  Publishers who didn’t share were being excluded from traditional Google search results, according to the group.

    Italian police then searched Google Italy’s offices as part of an investigation, and we learned that the maximum penalty for the alleged offense was ten percent of the unit’s revenue.

    All’s well now, though.  Google will just have to play nice and be a bit more open.  Catherine Hornby reported this morning, "Google has now ensured newspaper publishers will not have content excluded from the search engine and pledged to disclose revenue-sharing mechanisms . . ."

    GoogleGoogle itself also added in an official statement, "While we comply with Italian and EU competition laws, we also understand that there is always room for improvement in our business."

    This may count as an especially important win for Google considering that Italy is the country in which three execs were convicted of criminal defamation over a random bullying video uploaded to YouTube.

  • European Commission Widens Google Inquiry

    Google’s lawyers in Europe, who have been forced to deal with all sorts of investigations and inquiries over the past few years, have just had more obstacles dropped in their way.  A new report’s indicated that the European Commission will look into two antitrust complaints originating in Germany.

    The complaints come from two publishers and one mapping company, and first surfaced quite a while ago.  But to recap: the publishers, which control a huge number of newspapers and magazines, feel Google favors its own properties in search results and should share some of the ad revenue other companies’ articles help generate.

    The mapping firm, meanwhile, has argued that Google’s made it too difficult for other organizations to compete with its free products.

    Anyway, James Kanter, who broke the story of the European Commission taking interest in the complaints, noted, "The German cases . . . will give a more European flavor to an investigation that so far has been dominated by complaints by companies that have received support from the U.S. software giant Microsoft."

    It remains unknown when the probe might move forward (or officially turn up nothing).  Google maintains it’s done nothing wrong and says it will cooperate with the investigation.

  • French Regulators Call Google Dominant, Express Concerns

    There’s good news and bad news for Google in France today.  The Autorite de la Concurrence – a competition watchdog – has decided it isn’t thrilled with the company’s power, but isn’t yet willing to assert that Google needs to be tamed with fines and legal measures, either.

    The Autorite de la Concurrence observed in a statement that, with respect to advertising, "many elements converge in order to indicate that Google holds a dominant position . . . market share, price level, nature of customers relations, margin level, etc.  The entry barriers also appear to be high when it comes to developing an activity as a competing search engine, because of the investments at stake for the development of the algorithms and indexing of content, as well as due to the size effect."

    But the next paragraph is what Google’s execs and lawyers will celebrate: "In and end of itself, this dominant position is not reprehensible: it results from a great deal of innovation, supported by significant and continuous investments.  Only the abusive exercise of such market power could be sanctioned."

    What’s more, after outlining a few procedures it has problems with, the organization said, "[T]he Autorit makes no ruling as to the legality of such practices that would merit, in order to be pursued, often long and complex investigations."

    GoogleSo it seems that the Autorite de la Concurrence is just going to use this opportunity to apply pressure to Google, and will otherwise do little besides keep an eye on the search giant.

    The Autorite de la Concurrence’s English statement and further analysis in French is available here if you’re interested.

  • Yahoo Japan-Google Deal Gets Regulatory Approval

    A tie-up between Yahoo Japan and Google may sound unlikely for all sorts of reasons, but antitrust regulators in Japan see no reason to stop the deal from going forward.  Earlier today, the Fair Trade Commission declared that the proposed partnership isn’t anticompetitive.

    A little background information: Yahoo Japan said in July that it intended to make use of Google’s search tech, which came as a surprise to many since Yahoo and Bing were moving forward together in the U.S.

    The idea was also a bit of a shocker since the arrangement would give Google control of something like 90 percent of the Japanese search market.

    Still, Takujiro Kono of the Fair Trade Commission said according to Daisuke Wakabayashi, "We have not found any evidence that they are collaborating by sharing sensitive information such as ad pricing or any other problematic ways."

    The Fair Trade Commission just intends to continue to monitor the two companies to make sure they don’t cooperate more than they should.

    Not much else seems to stand in the way of Yahoo Japan and Google moving forward together, although Microsoft and Japanese competitor Rakuten still object to the tie-up.

  • EU Launches Search and Advertising Antitrust Investigation Against Google

     

    Update 2: Google has posted a response on its Public Policy Blog.

    Update: FairSearch, the organization that was formed in opposition to Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA, sent us the following statement from Tom Barnett, counsel to Expedia (part of the FairSearch organization) and former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the US Justice Department:

    "The European Commission’s announcement of a formal antitrust probe, looking into allegations that Google abuses its dominance in search to favor its own services and lower competitors’ search result rankings, underscores why the FairSearch.org coalition is urging the Justice Department to challenge Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software to protect consumers and competition in the online travel market."

    Original Article: News is out this morning that Google is being investigated by European Union antitrust regulators. They are looking into the possibility that Google is discriminating against competitors in it search results and ads.  

    Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports: "The European Commission will check whether Google ‘imposes exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their websites, as well as on computer and software vendors, with the aim of shutting out competing search tools,’ it said in an e-mailed statement today."

    The Commission also reportedly said it will investigate Quality Score manipulation allegations. 

    Google is quoted as saying that it’s strived to "do the right thing" by users and the industry, "But there’s always going to be room for improvement, and so we’ll be working with the commission to address any concerns."

    Regulators could potentially fine the company up to 10 percent of revenue for monopoly abuses, according to reports. However, according to the New York Times, the European Commission said it does not have "proof of infringements." 

    Meanwhile, China is prepared to prosecute Google over maps. The Chinese government has indicated that it intends to take legal action against the company if it doesn’t seek and obtain a mapping license. 

     

    Google China Map

    China wants to make sure all maps match its own official maps. Google has reportedly not applied for a license. 

    Google is also rumored to be trying to acquire Groupon, with the latest reported offer at $5.3 billion, which if accepted, would be Google’s largest acquisition to date.

     

  • FTC Discusses Google, AdMob Antitrust

     In testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, the Federal Trade Commission explained how it protects consumers by applying well-established principles of competition to fast-changing technology markets.

    "Some have argued that there should be different rules for markets characterized by rapid technological development, but Congress drafted the antitrust laws in general terms to accommodate changing markets and new products, and the laws are flexible enough to meet the challenges of the high-tech era,” said Bureau of Competition Director Richard Feinstein, testifying on behalf of the FTC before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy.

    The testimony discusses two recent FTC probes to highlight the agency’s flexibility in investigating and bringing enforcement actions in hihg tech marketss. Last year, the FTC charged Intel with using unfair methods of competition dating back to 1999 to stifle competition. The agency recently reached a settlement with the company that will help restore lost competition and prevent Intel from suppressing competition in the future, while allowing the company to compete aggressively.

    Also last year, the FTC investigated Google’s proposed acquisition of mobile advertising firm AdMob and ultimately decided not to oppose the transaction. The Commission initially had concerns that the loss of head-to-head competition between the two leading mobile advertising networks would harm competition. However, Apple’s acquisition of the third-largest mobile ad network, Quattro, and the introduction of its own mobile advertising network, iAd, indicated that Apple would quickly become a strong player in the mobile advertising market.

    Going forward, the testimony states, the FTC’s merger reviews will continue to focus on market facts to predict how competition is likely to take place in the future.

     

  • Intel and FTC Reach Settlement on Antitrust Case

    Intel announced that it has reached a tentative settlement with the FTC in the antitrust suit the FTC brought against the company in December.

    The suit alleged that Intel had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. In this settlement, Intel does not admit any violations. Intel SVP and General Counsel Doug Melamed offered the following statement:
    Intel and FTC reach agreement
    "This agreement provides a framework that will allow us to continue to compete and to provide our customers the best possible products at the best prices. The settlement enables us to put an end to the expense and distraction of the FTC litigation."

    What it boils down to is that Intel cannot pay customers to buy only Intel chips or to refuse to buy chips from competitors. In addition, Intel is not allowed to alter its chip design with the intent of stifling competition. The company must change agreements it has with other manufacturers.

    The full agreement can be read here (pdf).

    The agreement is subject to a 30 day public comment period and final approval by the Commission.

  • eBay-PayPal Tie-Up Draws Complaints In Germany

    This has not been a great week for American tech companies trying to do business in Europe.  First, Google got in trouble over allegedly anticompetitive search practices and its policy on Street View data retention.  Now, German antitrust authorities are looking at the way in which eBay has supported PayPal.

    eBay

    John Oates explained earlier today, "eBay.de recently asked sellers with low feedback points to offer PayPal.  The company justified the move because it said the number of bad buying experiences is twice as high from sellers with less than 50 feedback points than the average."

    But some people are less than pleased with the change, and as a result, "[T]he German Federal Cartel Office is investigating complaints made against eBay over this tying policy."

    Since the promotion of PayPal should increase its market share and help eBay earn more money, they may have a point.  eBay’s liable to have trouble arguing that there’s no other way it could protect buyers, at least.

    As always, we’ll see what happens.  German authorities haven’t yet launched a full investigation or given an indication which way they’re leaning.  eBay, for its part, is still more in "dialogue" than "sound the alarm" mode.

  • European Commission Turns Magnifying Glass On Google

    Google may soon find it necessary to send another plane full of lawyers across the Atlantic.  European regulators have decided to take a closer look at the company’s business practices in response to three separate antitrust complaints.

    Foundem, a price comparison site based in the UK, and eJustice, a French legal search engine, claim Google’s hit them with search penalties because they compete with the search giant.  Ciao! from Bing, meanwhile, is upset about AdSense terms and conditions.

    These complaints might constitute grounds for a formal antitrust investigation.  Google doesn’t appear too concerned, though.  On the European Public Policy Blog, Julia Holtz, the company’s senior competition counsel, wrote, "Though each case raises slightly different issues, the question they ultimately pose is whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners.  This is not the case."

    She then continued, "We always try to listen carefully if someone has a real concern and we work hard to put our users’ interests first and to compete fair and square in the market.  We believe our business practices reflect those commitments."

    Holtz also hinted that a certain rival of Google’s might be behind much of this.  Ciao! from Bing is owned by Microsoft, after all, and Foundem belongs to an organization (the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace) that’s sponsored by Microsoft. 

    Anyway, no targets or deadlines have been set with regards to when the European Commission will come to some conclusion.

  • Microsoft Presents European Web Browser Choice Screen

    Starting sometime around the first of March, Microsoft is going to give Europeans an obvious chance to pick something other than Internet Explorer as their Web browser.  And starting today, Microsoft’s given the whole world a chance to see what its "Web browser choice screen" looks like.

    This ballot screen has been in the works for a long time.  The process began when European regulators objected to Windows and Internet Explorer being bundled together.  Then, a proposal that would have put all of the different browser choices in alphabetical order was vetoed.

    Eventually, all of the parties agreed upon displaying the browser’s names in a random order.

    Now tests are set to begin next week in Belgium, France, and the U.K., with a full-scale rollout planned for early March.  The browser choice screen software will reach people via Windows Update, and should (except for the order of the browsers) resemble the picture below.

    Microsoft seemed rather pleased to announce that all of this is taking place ahead of the European Commission’s schedule.  We’re just very curious to see what Internet Explorer’s market share will look like come April.