Foundem Slams EU Commission for Proposed Google Antitrust Settlement

[mrengine]

One of the complainants in an antitrust case against Google has slammed the European Commission for apparently adopting wholesale Google’s proposal to settle the case, while giving complainants no fair chance to express their views on the settlement. Meanwhile, the Commission is considering revising the terms of the settlement, according to media reports.

For you to continue to claim that auction-based Paid Rival Links are a substitute for the free, natural search traffic Google is anti-competitively diverting, you would now need not only to argue against the overwhelming evidence and analyses from Complainants, market participants, and consumer groups, you would also need to argue against your own DG—directly contradicting the fundamental conclusions of its Preliminary Assessment. Clearly, this is not a sustainable position—particularly in a case with such far-reaching and potentially catastrophic consequences.

News page: [pcworld.com...]

Foundem's full letter: [searchneutrality.org...]

[superclown2]

When I first saw the proposed settlement that Almunia wanted to accept I just couldn't believe that anyone in his position would fall for such a blatant stunt. I still don't.

Normally a competition commissioner's recommendations are accepted without question. This time there has been an uproar and Martin Schulz the president of the European Parliament wants to see the whole proposed agreement canned and Google strictly regulated. Almunia's settlement will be discussed in September and by November there should be someone else taking his place. If there's no agreement in September this thing could get very sticky for G.