The Court of Justice of the European Union found that by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on mobile device manufacturers and mobile network operators Google abused its dominant position.
One of these restrictions imposed by Google was to make pre-installation of general search (Google Search) and browser (Chrome) apps on mobile devices a condition of Google’s license to use the Play Store.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that imposing such an obligation to pre-install general search (Google Search) and browser (Chrome) applications could give rise to an advantage that could not otherwise be compensated for by Google, namely the tendency of users to use the search applications available on their mobile device.
Google has also made a share of its advertising revenue conditional on a commitment by mobile device manufacturers and mobile network operators not to pre-install a competing general search service on a predefined portfolio of devices. The Court of Justice of the European Union has found that such a condition established genuine exclusivity agreements and thus breached competition.
