Tausi Insider

Google is challenging a record European Union antitrust fine that took aim at the Android operating system’s role in restricting mobile competition and consumer choice. The company said Thursday that it filed the appeal against the €4.125-billion ($4.3-billion) penalty “because there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice,” the EU’s top court. Google previously appealed to a lower tribunal, which had slightly lowered the original €4.34-billion penalty in a decision largely siding with the European Commission. It’s the largest-ever antitrust fine issued by the commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top competition watchdog. In its 2018 decision, the commission found that the dominance of Google’s Android resulted in less competition and consumer choice. The U.S. tech giant had argued that free and open-source Android resulted in cheaper phones and spurred competition with its chief rival, Apple. Android is the most popular mobile operating system, beat...

Alphabet GOOGL-Q unit Google must remove data from online search results if users can prove it is inaccurate, Europe’s top court said on Thursday. Free speech advocates and supporters of privacy rights have clashed in recent years over people’s “right to be forgotten” online, meaning that they should be able to remove their digital traces from the internet. The case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concerned two executives from a group of investment companies who had asked Google to remove search results linking their names to certain articles criticizing the group’s investment model. They also wanted Google to remove thumbnail photos of them from search results. The company rejected the requests, saying it did not know whether the information in the articles was accurate or not. A German court subsequently sought advice from the CJEU on the balance between the right to be forgotten and the right to freedom of expression and information. “The operator of a sea...

Online retailer Amazon.com may be deemed responsible for advertising of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes which found its way to its platform, Europe’s top court said in a preliminary ruling on Thursday. The EU court said it was now up to two national courts to decide whether this was indeed the case. Louboutin brought cases against Amazon AMZN-Q in a Belgian and a Luxembourg court in 2019, saying the retailer regularly displayed advertisements for red-soled shoes put on the market without Louboutin’s consent. Louboutin’s signature red sole is registered as a trademark within the EU. Both courts had sought the guidance of the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In its ruling on Thursday, the EU court said Amazon, as an online sales platform, may be considered responsible for the intellectual property breaches involved in the advertisements of counterfeit products that feature Louboutin’s trademarked red sole. The court said the presentation of the adve...