多家美企致信歐盟支持對谷歌處以重罰

Some of Google’s fiercest corporate critics in the US have written to Europe’s antitrust chief backing what is expected to be a record fine against the internet search company, and rejecting claims that the case has been fuelled by anti-American bias.

美國一些對谷歌(Google)持最強烈批評態度的企業致信歐洲最高反壟斷官員，支持對這家互聯網搜索公司處以金額有望創紀錄的罰款，並反駁了該案受到反美偏見推動的說法。

“As US companies, we wish to go on record that enforcement action against Google is necessary and appropriate, not provincial,” the seven signatories, including News Corp, Oracle and Yelp, wrote.

在信上簽名的7家企業——其中包括新聞集團(News Corp)、甲骨文(Oracle)和Yelp——寫道：“作爲美國企業，我們希望公開聲明，對谷歌採取的執法行動是必要和適當的，不是地方保護主義。”

The attempt to dispel claims of European protectionism came ahead of the expected announcement on Tuesday of a fine topping 1bn against the US search company over an eight-year-old probe involving online shopping.

此舉是對有關歐洲奉行貿易保護主義說法的反駁。預計，歐盟週二將宣佈對谷歌處以逾10億歐元罰款，這一處罰是基於一項長達8年的對在線購物問題的調查。

Signatories to the letter supporting the EU action include some of Google’s most bitter rivals. Oracle won a contentious copyright case against the search company last year, while News Corp has long railed against Google’s growing power over the media industry. Yelp has pushed — so far unsuccessfully — for Brussels to take up its own antitrust complaint against the company.

在上述信上簽字支持歐盟處罰行動的，包括谷歌一些最激烈的競爭對手。甲骨文去年打贏了一場充滿爭議的、針對谷歌的版權官司，新聞集團則長期抨擊谷歌對傳媒產業日益增強的影響力。Yelp已推動歐盟接受它自己提出的針對谷歌的反壟斷申訴，但迄今未獲成功。

The case has threatened to ignite simmering unhappiness in Silicon Valley and Washington over Europe’s recent challenges to leading US tech companies. These last burst into the open a year ago when Apple fiercely criticised a 13.2bn fine levied over the special tax deal it had struck with Ireland.

該案可能會引爆硅谷和華盛頓方面對歐洲近期挑戰美國頂尖高科技公司行爲的不滿。在硅谷和華盛頓，這種不滿情緒已接近臨界點。這種情緒上次公開爆發是在一年前。當時，蘋果(Apple)猛烈抨擊了因它與愛爾蘭達成的特殊稅務協議而受到的132億歐元罰款。