Google Fined $660,000 For Offering Free Maps In France
Google who has a slew of different products and services, was ordered by a french court to pay $660,000 in damages to a French mapping company that claimed they were stifling competition by offering Google Maps for free.
The company has been under fire lately due to changes to their privacy policy that basically consolidates all 60+ privacy policies across all their products and services, into one. This is not to mention the fact that the FTC is looking into claims of anti-trust practices and even added Google+ to the probe after the social network was implemented into search results.
“Bottin Cartographes, which offers map services to businesses for a cost, filed an unfair competition complaint against Google France and its parent company Google, arguing the Web giant was engaging in anticompetitive practices by providing free mapping services. The Paris court on Tuesday upheld the compliant, ordering Google to pay 500,000 Euros ($660,000) in damages and interest to Bottin Cartographes along with a 15,000 ($20,000) Euro fine, according to an AFP report.”
The french mapping company claimed that what was being done was an illegal strategy to remove competitors from the market and it seems the courts agreed that that was the case.
“However, a Google France spokesman told the AFP that the company is planning to fight the ruling. “We will appeal this decision,” the spokesman said. “We remain convinced that a free high-quality mapping tool is beneficial for both Internet users and websites. There remains competition in this sector for us, both in France and internationally.”
Do you think the ruling against Google was fair?
