Europe’s second-highest court ruled in favor of Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) Google on Wednesday, overturning a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine that had been imposed five years ago for limiting competition in online search advertising.
“The court (…) upheld most of the commission’s assessments, but annulled the decision imposing a fine of almost 1.5 billion euros on Google, on the grounds in particular that it had failed to take into account all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contractual clauses that it had found to be unfair,” the judges said.
The Commission could challenge the ruling, potentially sending it to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the bloc’s top court.
The case dates back to 2019 when the European Commission accused Google of exploiting its dominance with its AdSense for Search product, which allows websites to integrate ads within their own search results. The Commission claimed that Google’s restrictive contract terms with third-party websites hindered competitors from placing ads on these sites, leading to the fine.
Google appealed, bringing the case to the General Court.
Recently, several key legal decisions have emerged between U.S. tech giants and the EU.
Earlier this month, the ECJ upheld a 2.4 billion euro fine against Google for promoting its shopping comparison service over rivals.
The fine originated from a 2017 antitrust investigation conducted by the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. At that time, the Commission determined that Google had given preferential treatment to its own shopping comparison service, disadvantaging competitors.
Google challenged the ruling in the General Court, the EU’s second-highest court, which upheld the fine. The company then escalated the case to the ECJ.
Meanwhile, the same court recently ruled that Apple (NASDAQ:) must pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland, concluding a decade-long dispute.
