Abuse of position of power by Google

29.5.2006

ORAL QUESTION H-0498/06
for Question Time at the part-session in June 2006
pursuant to Rule 109 of the Rules of Procedure
by Saïd El Khadraoui
to the Commission

In Belgium the company Serverscheck has instituted legal proceedings against Google. When the name Serverscheck is entered into the Google toolbar, the programme suggests following a link to an illegal pirated version of Serverscheck’s products. The company wants Google to filter this suggestion. Google said that it could not take any account of an unregistered brand name. Serverscheck is a trade name, which, according to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property – signed by the 25 EU Member States –, should guarantee the same level of protection. What is the Commission’s stance on this case in which a company is not prepared to filter certain information that is harmful to both consumers and businesses, thus flouting a Convention that the 25 EU Member States have signed? Is Google abusing its monopoly by refusing to cooperate in this case and failing to take account of European legal regulations?

 

 

Tabled: 29.05.2006

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