The Court of Justice of the European Union has dismissed Google LLC's appeal of a $4.5 billion antitrust fine, The Washington Post reported. The decision by the EU's highest court in Luxembourg ends Google's multi-year legal challenge to the European Commission's 2018 penalty and confirms the largest competition fine ever imposed on a single company in Europe.

What was the original fine?

The European Commission imposed the penalty on July 18, 2018, after a three-year investigation into Google's Android licensing practices. Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner at the time, concluded that Google had abused its dominant position in three markets: Android device licensing, the Google Play Store, and mobile search.

The Commission identified three specific abuses:

• Requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome as a condition of licensing the Google Play Store
• Paying major manufacturers to exclusively pre-install Google Search on their devices
• Blocking manufacturers from selling devices running alternative versions of Android

The original €4.34 billion fine was nearly double the previous record €2.42 billion penalty the Commission had imposed on Google in 2017 for abusing its dominance in online comparison shopping.

What did the lower court decide?

Google appealed to the General Court of the EU, the bloc's second-highest court. On September 14, 2022, the General Court largely upheld the Commission's decision but reduced the fine to €4.125 billion. The court found that the Commission had correctly identified Google's abusive conduct but had overstated the gravity of one element of the infringement.

The General Court rejected Google's arguments that Android was an open-source platform and that the conduct had benefited consumers. The court found that Google's restrictions had constrained device manufacturers' commercial choices and held back rival search engines.

What does the CJEU ruling mean for practitioners?

The CJEU's dismissal closes the door on further EU court challenges. Lawyers advising technology clients on competition matters should treat the ruling as confirmation that EU regulators will continue to scrutinize conduct that ties access to one product to the promotion of another.

The decision also reinforces the Commission's view that dominance in an operating system can support findings of abuse in adjacent markets such as search and browsers. Companies holding strong positions in platform markets should expect continued enforcement attention to tying and exclusivity arrangements.

What happens next?

The European Commission retains the unpaid balance of the fine, with interest. Google paid the originally imposed €4.34 billion in 2018 under protest to avoid additional penalties, though the company retains the right to seek a refund of any amount collected in excess of the adjusted fine. The CJEU's ruling now entitles the Commission to retain those funds.

The case also gives the Commission fresh leverage in its parallel disputes with Google over online search and digital advertising. The Android judgment establishes precedent for any future tying claims and gives regulators a tested template for analyzing restrictions in mobile ecosystems.