A French commercial court on Tuesday slapped a fine of 500,000 euros (approximately $660,000) on Google France. The complaint was lodged by Bottin Cartographes against search engine giant French division – Google France and against the parent company Google Inc. on account of providing free web mapping services to some businesses.
“This is the end of a two-year battle, a decision without precedent,” said the lawyer for Bottin Cartographes, Jean-David Scemmama. “We proved the illegality of (Google’s) strategy to remove its competitors… the court recognised the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed. This is the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application,” he said.
Google France spokesman said the company would appeal against the decision. The search engine giant has earlier to face such difficulties in France.
