Judgment of the General Court Sixth Chamber, Extended Composition of 14 September 2022, Google and Alphabet v Commission Google Android, T-604/18

• Date: 14 September 2022
• Year: 2022

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In the present case, it is apparent from the Commission decision that it applied point 37 of the

Guidelines on the method of setting fines. The Commission had taken the view that, having regard to

the magnitude of the value of sales of the undertakings concerned, the objectives of deterrence and

proportionality of the fine could be achieved without using the total value of the truck sales of those

undertakings. Accordingly, the Commission had decided to use only a fraction of the total value of

sales for the purposes of calculating the fine.

Consequently, the fact that specialised trucks were excluded from the concept of ‘trucks’ in the

request for information and that the Commission decided to use only a fraction o f the total value of

the sales for the purposes of calculating the fine does not permit the inference that specialised trucks

were not among the products covered by the cartel found in the decision at issue.

2. ABUSE OF A DOMINANT POSITION (ARTICLE 102 TFEU)

Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber, Extended Co mposition) of 14 September

2022, Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google Android), T-604/1 8

Link to the full text of the judgment

Competition – Abuse of dominant position – Smart mobile devices – Decision finding an infringement of

Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 of the EEA Agree ment – Concepts of multi-sided platform and market

(‘ecosystem’) – Operating system ( Google Android) – App s tore (Play Store) – Search and browser

applications ( Google Search and Chrome) – Agreements with device manufacturers and mobile ne twork

operators – Single and continuous infringement – Concepts of overall plan and conduct implemented in

the context of the same infringement (product bundles, exclusivity payments and anti-fragmentation

obligations) – Exclusionary effects – Rights of the defence – Unlimited jurisdiction

Google,

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an undertaking in the information and communications technology sector specialising in

internet-related products and services, derives most of its revenue from its flagship product, the

search engine Google Search. Google’s business model is based on the interaction between, on the

one hand, a number of products and services offered to users for the most part free of charge and,

on the other hand, online advertising services using data collected from those users. Google also

offers the Android operating system (OS), which, according to the European Commission, was

installed on approximately 80% of smart mobile devices used in Europe in July 2018.

Various complaints were submitted to the Commission regarding some of Google’s business practices

in the mobile internet, leading the Commission to initiate a procedure against Google in relation to

Android on 15 April 2015.

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In this case, ‘Google’ refers jointly to Google LLC, formerly Google Inc., and to its parent company, Alphabet, Inc.

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In June 2017, the Commission had already imposed a fine on Google of €2.42 billion for abuse of its dominant position on the market for

search engines by conferring an u nlawful advantage on its own comparison shopping service. That deci sion was largely upheld by the

General Court by judgment of 10 November 2021, Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google Shopping), T-612/17 (EU:T:2021:763). Google’s

appeal against that judgment is currently pending before the Court of Justi ce (C-48/22 P - EU:C:2022:207).