The cows in here are small. The cows outside are far away.
|
|
|
Google gets fined for Google Maps in France
INTERNET SERVICES OUTFIT Google has been criticised and fined in France over its Google Maps mapping search that has been viewed as anti-competitive.
Bottin Cartographes, a French business to business mapping firm took Google to court over competition. That firm, which charges a fee for its services, complained that Google Maps was too free. Or something close to that, according to the Associated Press.
A commercial court in France sided with Bottin Cartographes' arguments and fined Google €15,000 and ordered it to pay €500,000 in damages.
We have asked both parties to confirm this. In the meantime the French mapping firm's legal representative told the AP that this was the end of a long battle and a win for paid-for services.
"This is the end of a two-year battle, a decision without precedent," said Bottin Cartographes' lawyer, Jean-David Scemmama.
"We proved the illegality of [Google's] strategy to remove its competitors.... The court recognised the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed. This is the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application." µ
Share this:
Share
But there is a paid version of Google maps, too. Wasn't that mentioned in the court case?
Google should have issued a declaration of WAR on France. The Frenchys would have surrendered within days, and the court case would have been over.
So some little French mapping company won a bogus court case against Google and a fine and damages were paid. What has changed? Did the country of France block the Google Maps website? Has the Google Maps app been blocked from being downloaded to Smartphones? Probably not. So French punters can still use Google maps for free while these other blokes charge for it. All that changed hands was a bit of revenue for them. That's not going to guaranty any new customers for them or any new use of their paid app versus Google. What next? A company who charges for e-mail in spain going to sue Google on the premise that Gmail is anti-competitive?
wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank