{"id":878,"date":"2018-07-20T16:30:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T15:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.competitionlawyers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=878"},"modified":"2018-07-19T18:37:28","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T17:37:28","slug":"google-competition-breach-yields-massive-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.competitionlawyers.co.uk\/blog\/google-competition-breach-yields-massive-fine","title":{"rendered":"Google competition breach yields massive fine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Google competition breach has yielded a massive fine imposed by the European Commission over its behaviour surrounding Android phones.<\/p>\n<p>The fine amounts to \u00a33.9bn ($5bn) and is based on Google\u2019s search-related revenue earned during the period the competition breach is said to have taken place.<\/p>\n<p>The investigations into the Google competition breach stem back to 2015 and surround impositions of pre-installed browsers and search apps that it\u2019s claimed has led to users not looking for alternatives, with Google paying huge sums to manufacturers to pre-install its own software.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Google competition breach an abuse of a dominant market position<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The European Commission has said that the Google competition breach stems from behaviour that meant the tech-giant was able to illegally \u201ccement its dominant position\u201d in terms of search engine software and browser software.<\/p>\n<p>According to the breaches that have been found, Google is guilty of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google search app being pre-installed in android devices;<\/li>\n<li>Users must install Google Chrome to access Play App store;<\/li>\n<li>Large payments made by Google to manufacturers to pre-install their software;<\/li>\n<li>Preventing manufactures selling devices with competitor versions using the threat of refusing permission to pre-install their software.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s understood that these Google competition breaches resulted in just 1% of users installing a competitor search app, and just 10% installing a different browser. These are low figures, and clearly suggest a protectionist position from a dominant player in the market.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Parent company to appeal Google competition finding<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Parent company, Alphabet, are to appeal the Google competition finding. This will be the second appeal they\u2019re involved in over competition breaches, with a previous determination still in the appeal process over a separate \u00a32.1bn fine for probes into their shopping comparison service.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that they reportedly have cash reserves in the sum of $103bn and could therefore easily afford the relatively small fine imposed, Alphabet believes that they allow for more choice for everyone with the market, and that they are not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.competitionlawyers.co.uk\/blog\/about-competition-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>in breach of competition laws<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A potentially precedent-setting decision<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Google competition decision is potentially a matter that will change the face of the marketplace itself. The outcome of the appeal that Alphabet is planning to launch will therefore be a case we\u2019ll be monitoring very closely.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the current decision, Alphabet has reportedly been given nine days to change its practices or they risk further fines amounting to potentially 5% of their average daily turnover.<\/p>\n<p>Any major breach of competition laws must be taken seriously. If the Google competition case remains upheld post-appeal, the impact on the mobile market is set to be huge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Google competition breach has yielded a massive fine imposed by the European Commission over its behaviour surrounding Android phones. The fine amounts to \u00a33.9bn ($5bn) and is based on Google\u2019s search-related revenue earned during the period the competition breach is said to have taken place. The investigations into the Google competition breach stem back &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.competitionlawyers.co.uk\/blog\/google-competition-breach-yields-massive-fine\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Google competition breach yields massive fine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[2,35],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","category-latest","tag-cma","tag-market-abuse"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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