Google rejects 'unfounded' EU antitrust charges of market abuse

Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, rejected on Thursday European Union antitrust charges that it abused its market power, saying they lacked any economic or legal basis.

"Economic data spanning more than a decade, an array of documents and statements from complainants all confirm that product search is robustly competitive," Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, wrote in a blog.

"We believe that the statement of objection's preliminary conclusions are wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics," he said. The comments coincide with the company's 150-page submission countering charges by the Commission, which in April accused Google of distorting search results to favour its shopping service, harming both rivals and consumers.

Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso confirmed receiving Google's response to the charge sheet.

"We will carefully consider Google's response before taking any decision on how to proceed and do not want to prejudge the final outcome of the investigation," he said.

The company could face a fine set at a level sufficient to ensure deterrence if found guilty, according to the Commission's charge sheet seen by Reuters. The EU antitrust authority can sanction wrongdoers up to 10 per cent of their global turnover.

In his blog, Walker said the EU authority had failed to take into account strong competition from online retailers Amazon and eBay.

He also said Internet traffic had risen by 227 per cent in the last decade in the countries where the Commission said it had abused its power to the detriment of rivals.

"We have seen this movie before. Defendants in big European antitrust cases have made the same arguments," said Thomas Vinje, a lawyer at lobby group FairSearch.

"And they argued, again like Google today, that the antitrust authorities just don't get it, and that the remedy they demand cannot be implemented without causing technical and market chaos."

Fairsearch members include Microsoft, Finnish telecom network equipment maker Nokia and online travel site TripAdvisor who say Google has hurt their business.