| Author (Corporate) | Cardiff EDC (Compiler) |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2018-2022 |
| Content Type | Blog & Commentary, News, Overview |
Summary:Information Guide focusing on Case T-604/18 from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which concerns the abuse of dominant position in the context of smart mobile devices, operating systems and search engines. Further information:Google undertakes most of its revenue from its flagship product, the search engine Google Search. The company's business model is based on the interaction between a number of products and services offered to users for the most part free of charge and online advertising services using data collected from those users. Google also offers the Android operation system (OS). Various complaints were submitted to the European Commission regarding some of Google's business practices in the mobile internet, leading the Commission to initiate a procedure against Google in relation to Android in April 2015. In July 2018, the Commission fined Google for having abused its dominant position by imposing anticompetitive contractual restrictions on manufacturers of mobile devices and on mobile network operators, in some cases since January 2011. The fine of almost €4.343 billion was the largest ever imposed by a competition authority in Europe. Google decided to bring an action before the General Court of the CJEU in October 2018, seeking to annul the Commission's decision, or in alternative to annul or reduce the fine imposed on the applicants. On 14 September 2022, the General Court decided to largely confirm the Commission's decision that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine. In order to reflect the gravity and duration of the infringement, the General Court considered it appropriate to impose a fine of €4.125 billion on Google, its reasoning differing in certain respects from that of the Commission. |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry, Internal Markets, Law |
| Subject Tags | Competition Law | Policy, EU Law |
| Keywords | Antitrust | Cartels | Dominant Position | Market Abuse, CJEU Judgments |
| International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
