The
European Commission hit Alphabet's Google with a 4.34 billion
euro ($5 billion) fine in 2018 for using its Android mobile
operating system to thwart rivals and cement its dominance in
general internet searching from 2011.
At issue are deals requiring phone makers to pre-install the
Google Search app and the Chrome browser app together with
Google Play, as well deals blocking some variants of Android.
"The reason why billions of people choose Google as their search
tool every day is not because of an abuse of dominance. It's
because it's the best," lawyer Meredith Pickford told the EU's
General Court, the bloc's second highest.
Pickford said the deals were far from being anti-competitive
tools, rather they were to ensure Google stayed competitive.
"You can still compete hard and compete on the merits. Consumers
aren't stupid. If Bing or another search engine were better than
Google, people would turn to it," he said, referring to a rival
Microsoft Corp search engine.
"Successful companies don't stay successful by resting on their
laurels and failing to compete," Pickford told the court.
The European Commission's lawyer, Nicholas Khan, said the deals
showed that Google had stacked the odds in its favour and urged
judges to uphold the Commission's decision and fine.
"Google gives itself the laurel wreath even before the race has
started," Khan said. "The scale of the practices entirely
justify the fine that was imposed."
It was not clear when there will be a verdict in the case, which
is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.
($1 = 0.8637 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Clarke)
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