Google Wins UK Court Case Filed By Streetmap -- Update
February 12 2016 - 11:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS-- Alphabet Inc.'s Google has won a U.K. court case
filed by online mapping company Streetmap. EU Ltd, who alleged the
U.S. technology company was skewing search results in favor of its
own mapping product, the companies said Friday.
The U.K. High Court ruled against Streetmap, saying Google
didn't abuse its dominant position and that its mapping product
doesn't harm competition.
The mapping company had filed the lawsuit against Google in
2013, alleging that the U.S. technology firm ensured that its
general search engine displayed results that discriminated in favor
of its own mapping product and against other mapping firms.
"The court made clear that we're focused on improving the
quality of our search results," a Google spokesman said.
The decision comes as the European Commission, the bloc's
antitrust regulator, is investigating the way Google displays
search results in areas where it offers services including mapping,
travel and local guides.
A spokesman for the commission said the U.K. judgment doesn't
affect the EU's ongoing investigations.
Lawyers representing Streetmap said they would appeal the U.K.
court decision, claiming that the judge used the wrong measurements
for assessing whether Google's conduct in search had had any impact
in the relevant markets.
The Streetmap lawyers said Google admitted in the trial that it
hadn't complied with legal obligations to test its products in the
U.K. market when it first introduced Google maps in 2007 and had
only considered its effects on the U.S. market. Google used
evidence from last year rather than when it entered the mapping
market, they added.
"This decision says that companies do not need to have evidence
of compliance at the time, so long as they can find something later
that may work as a defense," said Tim Cowen, partner at Preiskel
& Co LLP, the law firm representing Streetmap.
"StreetMap has been frozen in time because of what Google did,"
said Kate Sutton, a director at Streetmap, adding that the firm
hasn't been able to properly invest in the website since 2007.
British comparison-shopping site Foundem, which was the first
company to file a complaint with the EU over Google's conduct, also
has a separate civil court case against Google in the U.K.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 12, 2016 10:47 ET (15:47 GMT)
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