Google LLC v Commission

Google LLC v Commission
Court	Court of Justice of the EU
Citation	(2022) T-604/18
Keywords
Tying, abuse, dominance, big tech

Google LLC v Commission (2022) T-604/18 is an EU competition law case, concerning monopoly and abuse of a dominant position for tying.

Facts

The EU Commission found that Google and its parent company Alphabet had committed an abuse of a dominant under TFEU article 102 in relation to its operating system on mobile phones, Google Android. This included tying Google’s search and browsers apps’, by requiring any manufacturer who wanted to pre-install any app to install all apps in the bundle. According to the Commission: ‘Pre-installation can create a status quo bias’. The Commission rejected that Google had an objective justification, namely to monetise its investment in Android.

The Commission imposed a €4.34bn fine on Google.

Judgment

General Court

The General Court upheld the Commission's fine overall, but disagreed with certain calculations, and reduced it to €4.125 billion.

See also

• EU law
• EU competition law