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EU: US consumer group denounces Google offer as ploy to delay case

By  |  September 10, 2013

California-based consumer group Consumer Watchdog sent a letter to the European Commission’s Joaquin Almunia slamming Google’s latest offer to end the EU’s case into the search giant as a mere ploy to delay the case, calling upon the commissioner to formally charge Google.

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    Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit consumer interest group, told Almunia that Google’s offer was bogus. “If Google’s executives were genuinely interested in settling the case in a way that benefits consumers, they would have made their proposals public,” the letter said.

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    The Commission confirmed last Monday the watchdog had received revised concessions from Google in efforts to end a case into Google’s search presentation practices, slammed by rivals as anticompetitive and an abuse of Google’s dominant market position.

    A similar case was previously settled in the US by the Federal Trade Commission without major changes to the way Google presents its search results.

    The most recent offer to EU regulators comes after a market test of Google’s first concessions offer revealed that the company would need to up its proposal.

    Full Content: Market Watch

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