Google Rebuffs European Union on Antitrust Charges
August 27 2015 - 12:50PM
Dow Jones News
BRUSSELS—Google Inc. on Thursday rebuffed the European Union's
demand that it change the way it ranks online comparison-shopping
services in its search results, setting up a potentially drawn-out
legal battle between the search giant and a regulator empowered to
levy billions of euros in fines.
In a formal response Thursday to antitrust charges the EU filed
this spring against the California company, Google said it has
argued the bloc's antitrust regulators erred in their analysis of
the fast-changing online-shopping business, misconstrued Google's
impact on rival shopping-comparison services, and failed to
properly back up their legal claims.
In particular, the company argues that the EU's charges—detailed
in a document called a Statement of Objections, or SO—fail to take
into account the fast growth of companies like Amazon.com Inc. and
eBay Inc. Google executives have said these firms pose a new
competitive threat, which undermines the case that Google has
harmed comparison-shopping companies like Nextag and LeGuide.
"We believe that the SO's preliminary conclusions are wrong as a
matter fact, law and economics," Google general counsel Kent Walker
said in a written statement.
Google also argues that asking it to make changes to the way it
ranks comparison-shopping sites would require legal justifications
the EU doesn't have.
By taking aim at the overall framing of the EU's case, Google is
setting the stage for a potentially drawn-out legal challenge. The
case already stretches back to 2010, and has led to three tentative
settlements that were later scuttled.
The continuing tussle could thrust Google's operations in
Europe, its largest single market, into legal limbo for years to
come, though opponents say it could serve as a delay tactic for a
firm to cement its position.
Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com and Natalia
Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 27, 2015 12:35 ET (16:35 GMT)
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