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The Google headquarters in New York City: The tech giant is taking action against a competition penalty by the EU
Photo: REUTERS
The legal dispute over a competition fine of 2.42 billion euros against Google comes before the highest court of the European Union.
The tech giant has appealed to the ECJ against a ruling that Google deliberately disadvantaged competitors with its price comparison service Google Shopping and that a penalty imposed by the EU Commission for this reason was legal.
After careful consideration, it was decided to take action against the EU court's decision, a spokeswoman said.
After the verdict, Google announced that changes had been made since 2017 to comply with the Commission's decision.
It may take another two years before the ECJ comes to a decision.
In 2017, the EU Commission came to the conclusion that Google had abused its dominant position as a search engine operator by placing its own price comparison service at the top of Google search results and downgrading comparison services from its competitors.
From Google's point of view, the decision from Brussels was "legally, factually and economically" wrong.
Google is also arguing with the EU Commission about further billions in fines in court.
A lawsuit is directed against a record fine of more than 4.3 billion euros imposed in 2018 for illegal practices on Android mobile devices to strengthen its own search engine.
Another lawsuit is about a fine of almost 1.5 billion euros for abusing a dominant position in the online advertising market.
hba/dpa/AFP