Google Wins In EU Antitrust Fines Lawsuit Qualcomm Experiencing Defeat
JAKARTA - Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, managed to win legal challenges over an antitrust fine of 1.49 billion euros (IDR 26.1 trillion) imposed by the European Union. While Qualcomm failed to cancel the fines imposed on them. This decision reflects a diverse record for Margrethe Vestager, the head of the European Union's antitrust who is about to step down, in maintaining its enforcement efforts against tech giants in court.
In a 2019 decision, the European Commission stated that Google had abused its dominance to prevent websites from using other platforms other than AdSense for search ads. This practice was considered illegal and took place from 2006 to 2016. However, Luxembourg-based General Courts largely approved the Commission's assessment, but canceled the fine. The court stated that the Commission failed to consider all relevant circumstances in this case.
The judges argue that the Commission has not succeeded in showing that the issued clauses have hampered innovation, helped Google maintain its dominance in the market, or hurt consumers. Google also stated that the case was linked to a small subset of text-based search ads placed on a number of publisher websites.
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The company also confirmed that it had changed its contract in 2016 before the Commission's decision and welcomed the court's recognition of a mistake in the original decision.
On the other hand, Qualcomm, a US chipmaker, only managed to convince the court to reduce their antitrust fines from 242 million euros to 238.7 million euros. The judge rejected all Qualcomm arguments related to cases involving predator pricing practices, in which Qualcomm sold chipsets under cost between 2009 and 2011 to deter rival Icera, which is now part of Nvidia.
The European Commission, which has the right to appeal to the European Union Justice Court (CJEU), said it would study the ruling and consider the next steps. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding this decision.