In a report by The Daily Telegraph, Google is on the cusp of being hit with a “record-breaking” antitrust fine by the European Commission.  It apparently will be“in the region of €3 billion” ($3.39 billion).  Ouch. The Daily Telegraph, which cites sources familiar with the European Commission’s proceedings, says that the penalty is coming “within weeks.”  It’s […]

Something that I found rather nice, in an age where companies seem to always play cutthroat with each other, Google and Microsoft have agreed to play nice with each other.  The companies have decided to stop filing complaints about one another with regulators around the world.  In a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, this was prompted […]

It comes as no surprise, but Google has finally been hit with a formal “Statement of Objections” (antitrust charges) by the European Commission in regards to the Android OS and related practices.  The focus of the charges are the requirement that handset makers pre-install selected Google apps, like Chrome, in exchange for access to the Google […]

Back in February of 2015, Yandex, the top Russian search engine asked the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS) to initiate an antitrust investigation into Google’s control over the Android platform.  According to Yandex, Google was given an unfair advantage through the required pre-installation of Google apps on Android handsets in Russia. In September […]

In a report by Bloomberg, it is said that the European Commission (EC) is about to file an antitrust complaint over the Android operating system.  The outlet is citing “three people familiar with the probe.” Despite this news, Bloomberg is saying that a final decision hasn’t been made yet.  The Android-OEM contracts and app-install requirements have […]

On January 22, a Re/Code report appeared stating that Microsoft has pulled financial support from FairSearch, which is an anti-Google “watchdog” or lobbying group that has been a player in advancing European antitrust moves against the company. According to the FairSearch site, here is a list of all the current members: Admarketplace.com Allegro Buscapé Expedia Foundem Nokia Oracle Trip […]

With all of this build up between the European Commission (EC) and Google in the antitrust case revolving around the alleged abuse of the market in shopping search, a European law firm and a “public affairs” firm have decided to team up to help European companies sue Google.  In a report by New York Times, these “have created an […]

These days, when you think of Google and antitrust battles, we think of the search engine’s battle with the European Union.  But surprisingly, there is another ongoing investigation going on in India that hasn’t gotten nearly the same amount of coverage the European antitrust investigation.  There was an article that has appeared in the India-based Economic Times that […]

Google SVP and General Counsel Kent Walker, in a formal filing and in a companion blog post, says that Google is denying that they have abused the market position in search.  In their defense, Google stated that they are characterizing the actions they took and UI changes that were made as a move towards quality […]

On Friday 21, the Wall Street Journal reported that The European Commission (EC) is expanding their antitrust probe of Google.  At this point, the EC is in their late game of its vertical search inquiry and has filed formal charges.  At this point, Google has until August 31 to rebut.  This all comes down to the investigation […]