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Joaquin Almunia, vice president of the European Commission forCompetition Policy has spoken out for the first time about the ongoing anti-trust investigation into internet search giant Google, outlining the four areas ofconcern the commission has in a letter to its executive chairman,Eric Schmidt. The investigation dates back to November 2010 , after complaints from rivals including Microsoft that theinternet search company was abusing its dominant market positionand manipulating search results to favor its own advertisingservices. Almunia has given the firm one last chance to respond to concernsand come up with an outline of remedies to address the concerns thecommission has raised. Failure to do so would almost certainlyresult in a huge fine, especially since the EU commission can fineGoogle up to 10% of its global revenue. The commission's first major concern centers around Google'smanipulation of search results. "In its general searchresults, Google displays links to its own vertical search servicesdifferently than it does for links to competitors," he said."We are concerned that this may result in preferentialtreatment compared to those of competing services, which may behurt as a consequence." Secondly, issues have been raised regarding Google's observance ofcopyright laws, citing the way Google copies content from competingvertical search services and then uses them in its own products. "Google may be copying original material from the websites ofits competitors such as user reviews and using that material on itsown sites without their prior authorisation. In this way they areappropriating the benefits of the investments of competitors." Google's advertising contracts were raised as the third issue thecommission had with Google's practices. "The agreements resultin de facto exclusivity requiring them to obtain all or most oftheir requirements of search advertisements from Google, thusshutting out competing providers of search advertisingintermediation services. This potentially impacts advertisingservices purchased for example by online stores, online magazinesor broadcasters." Lastly, the commission's investigation also raised eyebrows at therestrictions Google puts into the portability of online searchadvertising campaigns like Adwords. "We are concerned thatGoogle imposes contractual restrictions on software developerswhich prevent them from offering tools that allow the seamlesstransfer of search advertising campaigns across AdWords and otherplatforms for search advertising." In response, Google downplayed the concerns but said it would be willing to cooperate to see the matterresolved. "We've only just started to look through theCommission"s arguments. We disagree with the conclusions butwe're happy to discuss any concerns they might have. Competition onthe web has increased dramatically in the last two years since theCommission started looking at this and the competitive pressuresGoogle faces are tremendous. Innovation online has never beengreater.". I am an expert from ledglobelightbulbs.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Indoor Led Light Bulbs , T8 Led Fluorescent Tubes, Globe E27 Led,and more.
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