• Google successfully overturned a €1.49 billion antitrust fine over its AdSense service.

• The EU General Court ruled that the European Commission did not consider all relevant circumstances when it analyzed the case.

• The European Commission may still appeal the decision to the EU Court of Justice.

Google scored a major win in the European Union’s General Court on Wednesday, September 18, when it got a hefty $1.7 billion (€1.49 billion) antitrust fine overturned, according to a Reuters report.

Background

• In March 2019, Google was fined €1.49 billion by the European Commission for allegedly abusing its market dominance through restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites that used its AdSense platform. 

• These clauses reportedly prevented publishers from using rival ad platforms.

• The Commission ruled the tech giant’s search ads brokering business had violated competition rules between 2006 and 2016 to cement a dominant position.

• Google appealed the decision.

The Ruling

• The Luxembourg-based EU General Court overturned the fine, siding with Google, but upheld the majority of the EU’s findings. 

• The court ruled that the European Commission failed to sufficiently take into consideration all the relevant circumstances when assessing the duration of the contract clauses it deemed abusive.

• "The Commission has also not demonstrated that the clauses in question had, first, possibly deterred innovation, next, helped Google to maintain and strengthen its dominant position on the national markets for online search advertising at issue and, last, that they had possibly harmed consumers," the judges said.

Google Welcomes Judgment

In a statement emailed to major outlets, Googe spokesman Jay Stoll welcomed the judgment and underlined that the case was about a very narrow subset of text-only search ads placed on a limited number of publishers’ websites.

“We made changes to our contracts in 2016 to remove the relevant provisions, even before the Commission’s decision. We are pleased that the court has recognized errors in the original decision and annulled the fine. We will review the full decision closely.”  

Why This Matters

This is a significant win for the tech giant, which has been facing multiple regulatory battles in Europe. The AdSense fine was one of a trio of fines that have cost Google a total of $9.18 billion (€8.25 billion), which were triggered following a complaint from Microsoft in 2010.

What’s Next?

The EU can appeal the decision to the bloc’s highest court, the Court of Justice (CJEU), but has not yet confirmed whether it will do so. 

Commission spokeswoman Lea Zuber told TechCrunch that it “takes note” of the General Court judgment and said it will study it “carefully” and “reflect on possible next steps.”

Given the bloc’s recent success at the CJEU, where it won two major cases – one involving Google Shopping and one regarding Ireland’s tax breaks for apple, it may feel inclined to challenge the ruling, especially that the Genera Court upheld most of its findings in the AdSense case.