Comisión Europea v Google

Hace cuatro meses, la Comisión Europea le envió a Google [Diclaimer: este blog se aloja en un sitio de Google] su Statement of Objections (SO) en la que indicaba qué le objetaba a dicha firma (síntesis: buscador, android tal vez, otros que no recuerdo). La investigación comenzó en 2010, convengamos. En síntesis, se decía:

• "Google systematically positions and prominently displays its comparison shopping service in its general search results pages, irrespective of its merits. This conduct started in 2008.
• Google does not apply to its own comparison shopping service the system of penalties, which it applies to other comparison shopping services on the basis of defined parameters, and which can lead to the lowering of the rank in which they appear in Google's general search results pages.
• Froogle, Google's first comparison shopping service, did not benefit from any favourable treatment, and performed poorly. As a result of Google's systematic favouring of its subsequent comparison shopping services "Google Product Search" and "Google Shopping", both experienced higher rates of growth, to the detriment of rival comparison shopping services.
• Google's conduct has a negative impact on consumers and innovation. It means that users do not necessarily see the most relevant comparison shopping results in response to their queries, and that incentives to innovate from rivals are lowered as they know that however good their product, they will not benefit from the same prominence as Google's product."

Pasan los meses y Google responde. La respuesta es confidencial, pero en 100 páginas se habrían refutado los argumentos de la Comisión (nota para quienes leen este blog: Si Google pudo responder un asunto hiper-complejo en 100 páginas, Ud. puede hacerlo en menos). Resumen: "mejorar la calidad no es anticompetitivo", nos dicen. El derecho, la economía y los hechos de la SO serían malos. Veremos.