EU court advisor rejects Google appeal in Android antitrust case
A top advisor to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said on Thursday that Google’s appeal in a long-running antitrust case is unfounded, bringing the tech giant one step closer to paying a 4.1 billion euro fine. While the opinion is non-binding, the court tends to follows such recommendations.
The European Commission imposed the record fine in 2018, accusing Google of abusing its dominant position by requiring smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install its search engine and web browser if they wanted to use the Android operating system. With Android running on around 75 percent of mobile devices worldwide, the Commission argued that the practice severely limited competition.
In 2022, the EU's General Court upheld the bulk of the fine, but Google appealed to the CJEU. The company claimed that the Commission had overlooked competitive pressure from Apple, which offers its own operating system and services.
Ineffective arguments
On Thursday, however, advocate general Juliane Kokott rejected that argument, stating that Google’s legal reasoning was “ineffective.”
"It is not realistic, in the present case, to compare the situation of Google with that of a hypothetical as-efficient competitor. Google held a dominant position in several markets of the Android-ecosystem and thus benefited from network effects that enabled it to ensure that users used Google Search," she said.
While the advocate general's opinion is non-binding, judges tend to follow their advice in four out of five cases. The Court is expected to rule on the case in the coming months.
"It is not realistic (...) to compare the situation of Google with that of a hypothetical as-efficient competitor"
The 4.1 billion euro fine is part of a broader antitrust crackdown by the European Commission, which has fined Google a total of 8.25 billion euros for alleged abuses of market dominance. Not all fines have been upheld, however: a 1.5 billion euro fine for anti-competitive practices in online advertising was overturned last September.
Reacting to the opinion, a Google spokesperson said the company was "disappointed with the Opinion which, if it were followed by the Court, would discourage investment in open platforms and harm Android users, partners and app developers."
People pose for a picture near an Android statue at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. PHOTO © JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Related news
