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62 Antitrust Bull. 313 (2017)
The Google Case in the EU: Is There a Case

handle is hein.journals/antibull62 and id is 309 raw text is: Article The Antitrust Bulletin 2017, Vol. 62(2) 3 13-333 The Google Case in the EU: K© The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Is There a Case? DOl: 10.1 177/0003603X I7708362 journals.sagepub.com/home/abx OSAGE loannis Kokkoris* Abstract This article discusses the European Commission's investigation of Google in relation to the alleged abuse in the online search market concerning Google's comparison shopping service. Drawing a comparison with the investigation conducted by the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S., the analysis focuses on whether the conditions of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) are satisfied and whether there is scope to conclude that the Google's conduct has caused harm to consumers or restricted competition. In particular, insights relating to the treatment of innovation in competition law will be provided. Finally, the article aims at shedding light on the investigation and at predicting the possible theory of harm to which the European Commission will make reference. Keywords Google, abuse of dominance, innovation, market power, essential facilities doctrine A lot of our search innovation has come from our own frustration with Google's results. I. Introduction The aim of this article is to discuss the online search market and the investigation of the European Commission into Google's comparison shopping service.2 The European Commission has argued that Google has abused its dominant position. Google was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the U.S. with regard to whether its conduct could qualify and be sanctioned as abusive and infringing U.S. antitrust law. The 1. Eric Schmidt, The New Griindergeist (Oct. 13, 2014), http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-new- grundergeist.html (last visited Jan. 16, 2016). 2. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, GOOGLE PRODUCT SEARCH AND GOOGLE SHOPPING (Apr. 25, 2013), http://europa.eu/rapid/press- releaseMEMO-13-383 en.htm (last visited Jan. 27, 2017) and in detail below. *Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK Corresponding Author: loannis Kokkoris, Chair in Law and Economics, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, 67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3JB, London, UK. Email: i.kokkoris@qmul.ac.uk

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