After 3 years of being engaged in an anti-trust spat with the European Union (EU), Google has finally managed to dodge massive fines related to the discrimination against competing sites. Interestingly enough, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission dropped a similar case against the search giant recently, after it concluded that Google was motivated by innovation rather than the will to choke the competition.
Google's pledge to the EU anti-trust commission means the search giant will alter its search page or add new services as long as the company adds three links to competing services next to its own service, such as Google Shopping or Chrome.
To link beside Google's own service, competitors will have to pay 3 euro cents, which is equivalent to around 4 U.S.cents, according to Joaquin Almunia, competition commissioner.
"My mission is to protect competition to the benefit of consumers, not competitors. I believe that the new proposal obtained from Google after long and difficult talks can now address the Commission's concerns. Without preventing Google from improving its own services, it provides users with real choice between competing services presented in a comparable way; it is then up to them to choose the best alternative. This way, both Google and its rivals will be able and encouraged to innovate and improve their offerings. Turning this proposal into a legally binding obligation for Google would ensure that competitive conditions are both restored quickly and maintained over the next years," says Almunia.
This shake up to Google's search result page is more radical than what we had expected, and we are certain Google is not taking this with a smile. The company now stand to share ad spots with competitors, and this is expected to go on for the next 5 years.
However, despite what Google has done, some competitors are not too happy with the decision taken.
"Without a third party review, Almunia risks having the wool pulled over his eyes by Google. Having initially welcomed earlier proposals, effective market tests demonstrated their fatal flaws and the commission rightly rejected them. Why has Almunia chosen to ignore the expert advice of the market on this occasion?" asked Wood at ICOMP. "We do not believe Google has any intention of holding themselves to account on these proposals, and given the catastrophic effects on the online ecosystem that a proposal that doesn't hit the mark will have, we would implore Commissioner Almunia to allow a full third party review of their submission as the very least the Commission can do in this landmark case."
