FE Editorial : Cross-Atlantic uncertainty
The Financial Express: Jan 12 2013, 00:33 IST
If technology companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have learnt one thing over their seemingly endless litigations against each other, it’s that a legal battle won in the US has no bearing on the same fight fought in Europe. The divergence between the US and European views on abuse of dominance were first made clear with the cases levelled against Microsoft. In the 1990s, a case was levelled against Microsoft claiming it abused the dominance of its Windows operating system by giving preferential treatment to its own Internet Explorer browser and Media Player. The case in the US went in favour of Microsoft—that is, no fines were imposed, and only minor changes were implemented. In Europe, however, the European Commission levelled a whopping 497 million euro fine on Microsoft in a similar case. The latest instance of such a mismatch of verdicts is likely to be the case against Google for the perceived abuse of dominance of its search engine. Google’s critics claimed that Google Search unfairly gave prominence to Google’s services over its competitors’. The US Federal Trade Commission this month more or less exonerated Google of most of the blame, subject to minor changes Google volunteered to make. However, according to the vice-president of the European Commission, Joaquín Almunia, the verdict in Europe for the same case is going to be very different. Though the European case is still not done, Almunia expects the European Commission will order Google to drastically change its practices or face a hefty
Previous Story Platinum Loophole Next Story Column : RBI can’t fight inflation on its own
Reader's Comments| Post a Comment
Be the first to comment.
