Newsletter
Just a couple of weeks back, on April 1st, it was reported that the European Union was taking the necessary measures to bring charges against Google over antitrust violations in the regions. The charges are stemming from a five year old case with the EU which has been stalled numerous times, likely due to the previous attempts to come to a settlement. It was also reported at the time, that the case could end up happening in a few weeks, and it appears that it may actually be happening as early as next week if those speculations proved to be true.
New details concerning the potential case seem to have come to light thanks to a leaked internal memo from Google which is being looked at as a response to the charges that the EU is reportedly trying to move forward with investigating. As the memo highlights, the European Commission will actually be issuing a statement of objections tomorrow, which is essentially the initial arguments from the commission staff. The purpose of the SO is to give Google a chance to respond to the arguments being made against them and more or less prove their case. The nature of their being an SO is good news for Google, even if the fact that the case being brought against them is not. As such Google will now have time to gather their own arguments and file them to the European Commission.
There is no telling how long the case may take, but Google details in the memo that the process of an SO can sometimes take as much as a year or two, and that even after that length of time (or any length of time after Google issues their own response) the commission can still opt to settle their case or change their original claims. While Google has noted they find the news about the case disappointing, they also appear to be very confident that they have a strong case, stating as such, and then they point to a couple of particulars, specifically having better services for users and the fact that their search rankings create increased competition. Google also bolsters their arguments with a series of graphs and charts to demonstrate and display alongside their oral arguments, which you can find below.
