The head of Foundem, the British search engine company which first triggered an antitrust investigation into Google by the European commission, has warned that the search engine company faces "a tsunami of follow-on litigation" if it does not alter its search results in a negotiated settlement.
Shivaun Raff, co-founder and chief executive of the company, said that Google's need to avoid huge lawsuits from companies affected by its previous dominance means that Joaquin Almunia's antitrust division at the EC is "in a far stronger bargaining position than many commentators realise. Anyone suggesting that Google will get away with superficial remedies … is almost certainly mistaken."
Almunia began an antitrust investigation into Google's dominance in search in November 2010, and after a series of meetings with chairman Eric Schmidt, in May 2012 issued an ultimatum to the company, setting out four areas where the EC felt Google was abusing its dominance, and giving it weeks to respond. Google did so on the last day of the 2 July deadline.
Almunia is soon expected to announce more details about the progress of discussions with Google. In July the search giant wrote to him offering a number of tweaks to various elements of its business in Europe, after he set out a number of fields – especially Google's apparent favouring of its own properties such as YouTube – in which the EC was seeking remedies to Google's dominance.
Raff said that if Google cannot agree a "settlement agreement" with the EC – without recourse to the courts – Almunia would have to force it through the courts. That could lead to an "infringement decision", which would in turn open Google up to lawsuits from companies including Foundem, Ciao and especially its arch-rival Microsoft.
Source: The Guardian
