Google is facing a €295m (approx. $421,800.000) damages claim in France from one of the companies which initiated the current European anti-trust investigation into its dominance in the search, news and mapping sectors.
1plusV, which operates search service Ejustice.fr, aimed at the legal profession, claims that Google blocked its sites from results. It claims that between 2007 and 2010, 30 ‘vertical’ (specialist) search sites developed by the French firm had been “black-listed.”
Reuters reports that Google was served notice of the claim on Monday and that it will be filed with the Paris commercial court today or tomorrow.
This legal action joins not only the European anti-trust investigation but also the US Federal Trade Commission’s own investigation which was launched last week. Details of the FTC probe are still sparse, with Google admitting on Friday that it wasn’t yet aware of exactly what the government organisation wanted to investigate.
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The European probe, launched late last year began by looking at alleged abuses of search market dominance but was later extended to cover Google News and Google Maps. 1plusV filed additional complaints against Google to the European Commission in February this year.
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