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E.U./U.S.: Europe hints at impatience in settling Google case

By  |  September 23, 2012

According to the European Union’s top antitrust regulator, Joaquín Almunia, there are limits to how much longer his office would try to negotiate a settlement with Google over whether its Internet search engine favored the company’s own Web offerings to the detriment of competitors. Without a settlement structure, Google would leave itself open to being fined as much as 10 percent of its annual worldwide revenue – which reached nearly $38 billion USD last year – and conform to any E.U. law it was found to violate before being allowed to appeal to the General Court of the European Union. Instead of proceeding with formal charges, Mr. Almunia offered Google a chance to reach an amicable solution. It was the most significant sign yet that E.U. regulators were seeking to avoid a battle that would drag out for a decade or more, as happened in previous cases involving two U.S. technology giants, Microsoft and Intel.

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