EU: First complainant against Google says settlement offer will worsen situation

Foundem, the company to first lodge a complaint with the European Commission regarding Google’s alleged anticompetitive practices, has issued a statement regarding Google’s latest settlement offer with the EU, slamming the deal as one that would make matters much worse and will “entrench, extend, and escalate [Google’s] abusive practices.”

According to reports, UK-based Foundem penned the statement Friday against Google’s offer, the second round of concessions the company has offered to end a two-year investigation into the company after its first offer was deemed insufficient by authorities.

According to Foundem, Google’s offer to label search results as either its own or its rivals’ is similarly insufficient; further, the company said, Google’s offer of a bidding process for so-called Paid Rival Links to appear in Google’s search results “simply increases the efficiency with which Google would extract revenues from its competitors.”

The company also slammed the European Commission’s decision to mandate Google’s concessions remain confidential and ban the interested parties asked to comment on the offer from publically discussing the offer.

Full Content: PCWorld

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