Google emerged victorious in a legal battle on Wednesday against a €1.49 billion ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed by the European Union. On the other hand, chipmaker Qualcomm was unsuccessful in its attempt to overturn a penalty.
The rulings highlight the varied outcomes of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's efforts to enforce regulations on Big Tech companies. Vestager recently secured significant wins against Google and Apple in separate cases.
In a 2019 decision, the European Commission found that Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL), had misused its dominant position to restrict websites from using ad brokers other than its AdSense platform for search ads. The practices deemed illegal occurred between 2006 and 2016.
The EU's General Court largely supported the Commission's findings but annulled the fine, citing the failure to consider all relevant circumstances. The judges noted that the Commission did not prove that the clauses in question hindered innovation, aided Google in maintaining market dominance, or harmed consumers.
Google clarified that the case pertained to a specific type of text-only search ads on select publishers' websites. The company had already removed the contentious provisions from its contracts in 2016, even before the Commission's ruling. Google welcomed the court's decision to annul the fine.
The Commission, with the option to appeal to the European Court of Justice, stated it would review the judgment before deciding on potential next steps. The AdSense fine was part of a series of penalties totaling €8.25 billion ($9.18 billion) imposed on Google.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm's efforts to reduce its EU antitrust fine to €238.7 million from €242 million were partially successful. The General Court rejected all arguments presented by the US chipmaker. The Commission had penalized Qualcomm in 2019 for selling chipsets below cost between 2009 and 2011 to stifle competition from British phone software maker Icera, now owned by Nvidia.
Qualcomm has the option to appeal to the European Court of Justice but has not yet commented on the recent ruling.
