Google claims that European Union antitrust charges have no grounds

The EU charged Google with stifling competition and harming consumers by favoring its comparison shopping services over those of its rivals, computerworld.com reports. Google faces the possibility of billions of Euros worth of fines in the case.

Despite these accusations, Google firmly claims that its services actually increase choice for European consumers and that the EU has not adequately justified its charges, nor has has it provided any legal framework that would connect its claims with its proposed remedy.

In particular, the EUs charges do not consider the continued rise of shopping services like Amazon and eBay, Kent Walker, senior vice president and general counsel at Google, said in a blog post, cited by the source. The European Commission will carefully consider Googles response before taking any decision on how to proceed, spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said, cited by the source.

The Commission has proposed that Google show ads sourced and ranked by other companies within its own ads on its search results page, Google said. Google called that remedy problematic, saying it would harm the quality and relevance of its results. If the Commission ultimately finds Google in the wrong, penalties could include fines of up to 10% of its annual revenue.

The Commission has also opened a separate antitrust investigation into Googles Android operating system, which revolves around the extent to which Google could abuse its dominant position by, among other factors, requiring manufacturers to bundle Googles services with the open-source system. Google has not mentioned that investigation in its official reply.