This entry was posted by admin on February 24, 2010 at 4:36 pm under IT News.

The European Commission announced this week that it would open an investigation into possible anti-competitive behavior by search giant Google as a result of complaints made by several websites who felt that the company had unfairly penalized their search ranking.

Google responded immediately, however, noting that all three of the companies which had filed complaints were associated in various ways with competitor Microsoft, whose Bing search engine constitutes Google’s primary competition in the search market. Senior competition counsel Julia Holtz wrote on the company’s blog that Google was "confident that our business operates in the interests of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law."

The companies specifically allege that Google punitively downgraded their search ranking or removed them from search results entirely because it viewed them as competitors, which is illegal under the Lisbon Treaty governing trade practice within the European Union.

Dominant companies will, no doubt, follow the progress of the case with some interest, as it could have an impact on the ability of companies like SAP to excel.