EPC welcomes the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the Google Shopping Case today.
Google must pay the €2.42bn fine issued by the European Commission in 2017 for abusing its dominant position by self-preferencing. After 14 years the case reaches a conclusion. Google has exhausted all its legal instruments and therefore it cannot re-appeal.
European publishers have been involved to this case aiming to stop Google's abusive promotion of its own services against their competitors, including media sercices.
Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director said "Google should finally stop operating a quasi-monopolistic search engine as well as a growing number of commercial services in adjacent markets. This conflict of interest leads Google to systematically manipulate ranking criteria in order to divert users to Google’s own offerings – misleading consumers and discriminating against rivals in organic, as well as in sponsored, vertical search."
Proper compliance with the decision as well as with the new rules of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will enforce the EU competition law properly to the benefit of consumers, publishers and businesses