EU: Google hits back at record-breaking fine in court appeal

A new report on October 30 stated that Google attacked the European Union for basing its record-breaking €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) penalty in June against the search-engine giant on untested antitrust theories.

The Bloomberg report further noted that “Google contends that a fine “was not warranted” on grounds that the European Commission put forward a novel theory and previously signaled the case could be solved without a financial penalty by initially seeking an amicable solution with the Alphabet unit.”

The details of Google’s court appeal at the EU’s Luxembourg-based General Court were revealed Monday in the bloc’s Official Journal.

Google also said in its appeal that the Commission “fails to take proper account of the competitive constraint exercised by merchant platforms” in its decision to fine the Mountain View, California-based firm for abusing its market power to edge out smaller shopping search rivals.

After losing its biggest regulatory battle yet, Google is bringing the matter to EU courts in a legal challenge filed in September that could take years to conclude.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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