谷歌面臨歐盟反壟斷訴訟 或步微軟後塵

London—The European Commission is said to be planning to charge Google with using its dominant position in online search to favor the company’s own services over others, in what would be one of the biggest antitrust cases here since regulators went after Microsoft.

倫敦——據稱，歐盟委員會(European Commission)計劃就谷歌(Google)利用它在網絡搜索方面的主導地位，偏袒谷歌自身服務的做法提起訴訟。這可能會成爲監管機關對微軟(Microsoft)採取行動以來，歐洲規模最大的反壟斷案之一。

Europe’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, is expected to make an announcement in Brussels on Wednesday that Google has abused its dominant position, according to two people who spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

兩名知情人士週二在匿名的前提下透露，歐盟的市場競爭負責人瑪格麗特·韋斯塔格爾(Margrethe Vestager)將於週三在布魯塞爾發表聲明，稱谷歌濫用了主導地位。

The decision to push ahead with a so-called statement of objections is the latest twist in the lengthy investigation into Google’s activities in Europe, where it holds a roughly 90 percent share in the region’s search market. If Europe is successful in making its case, the American tech giant could face a huge fine and be forced to alter its business practices to give smaller competitors like Yelp greater prominence in its search queries.

採取行動發表所謂的異議聲明(statement of objections)的決定，在谷歌的歐洲業務受到的漫長調查中，是最新的一步轉折。在歐洲，谷歌約佔搜索市場90%的份額。如果歐洲起訴成功，這家美國科技巨頭就將面臨鉅額罰款，而且還將被迫調整其商業操作，在其搜索結果中將Yelp等規模較小的競爭對手呈現在更顯著的位置。

A representative for Google declined to comment on any potential action by the European authorities. But in an internal memo to employees, first obtained by the technology news site Re/code, the company said it expected the commission to file a statement of objections about how the company displays search results, particularly for shopping. It also expected the authorities to open an investigation into Android, the Google software that runs a majority of the world’s smartphones.

谷歌的一名代表拒絕就歐盟可能採取的行動發表評論。但科技新聞網站Re/code最先取得的一份谷歌發送給員工的內部備忘錄顯示，谷歌表示該公司認爲，歐盟委員會將會發表一份異議聲明，涉及谷歌排列搜索結果的方式，尤其是有關購物的搜素結果。該公司還認爲，歐盟委員會將對谷歌的Android軟件開展調查，世界上大多數智能手機使用的都是Android系統。

“We have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for users and increased competition,” the memo said. “All told, consumers have a lot of choice — and they are exercising it. And many, many other companies have very successful mobile businesses — including Apple, the most valuable (mobile) company in the world.”

“我們勝算很大，特別在爲用戶提供更好的服務，以及促進競爭方面，我們有非常好的論據，”備忘錄顯示。“總之，消費者有很多選擇，而他們都在行使選擇權。很多、很多公司都有非常成功的移動業務，比如蘋果公司(Apple)——世界上市值最高的（移動）公司。”

It is still unclear what specific accusations Ms. Vestager plans to include in the charges against Google. But the pressure the company faces in Europe is just one of the regulatory problems that American tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Apple are facing across the 28-member bloc.

目前仍不清楚韋斯塔格爾計劃對谷歌提出哪些具體的指控。但該公司在歐洲所面臨的難題，只是亞馬遜(Amazon)、Facebook和蘋果等美國科技巨頭，在這個由28個國家組成的政治聯盟裏，面臨的諸多監管難題之一。

Europe’s antitrust officials have already opened investigations into whether Apple and Amazon received preferential treatment in their low-tax arrangements — Apple in Ireland and Amazon in Luxembourg. In addition, privacy watchdogs across the region are asking whether companies like Facebook have securely protected people’s online data. Policy makers are also investigating whether American Internet platforms like Amazon have too much control over how Europeans gain access to online services.

歐洲反壟斷官員已在調查蘋果和亞馬遜在其避稅安排中是否得到了優待，其中蘋果公司是在愛爾蘭，亞馬遜在盧森堡。此外，歐洲各地的隱私監察組織也在懷疑Facebook等公司沒能對人們的在線數據進行可靠保護。政策制定者正在調查亞馬遜等美國互聯網平臺，看它們是否對歐洲人的網絡服務獲取構成了過多的控制。

European lawmakers have said that these inquiries are not specifically aimed at American tech companies, though many industry executives say they are aimed at helping European tech companies, which have so far been unable to rival their much larger United States competitors.

歐洲立法者們稱這些調查並非專門針對美國科技公司，不過許多業內高管認爲，把他們當做目標是爲了幫助歐洲的科技公司，這些公司迄今爲止還無法跟規模龐大得多的美國公司抗衡。

The investigation against Google has already dragged on for nearly five years at the European Commission without formal charges or a negotiated settlement. That has prompted criticism that the region’s most important antitrust enforcer has been too easy on Google.

歐盟委員會對谷歌的調查已經持續長達將近5年，至今沒有正式起訴，也沒有達成協議和解。有人因此指責這個歐洲地區最重要的反壟斷執法機構對谷歌過分客氣。

Europe’s main focus of investigation is whether Google has abused its search engine’s large market share by favoring its own products. The search engine is more dominant in Europe than in the United States, where competitors like Microsoft’s Bing have a sizable market share.

歐洲的調查主要關注谷歌是否濫用其搜索引擎的巨大市場份額，讓自己的產品獲得優勢。谷歌搜索引擎在歐洲的統治地位要高過在美國，後者還存在微軟的必應(Bing)等競爭對手，佔據了相當一部分市場。

Ms. Vestager, a Danish politician who took over as the European Union’s top antitrust official in November, is scheduled to travel to Washington later this week, where she is expected to meet senior justice officials and participate in antitrust conferences.

11月接任歐盟最高反壟斷官員的丹麥政治人物韋斯塔格爾計劃在本週晚些時候前往華盛頓，她在那裏應該會見一些高級司法官員，並參加反壟斷會議。

More than two dozen companies and organizations have filed antitrust complaints in Europe against Google. Many are in Germany, where powerful publishing groups and online firms have called on the European regulator to stop the American search giant from blocking competition in sectors like online mapping, travel services and shopping.

在歐洲已經有數十家公司和機構投訴谷歌壟斷，其中許多來自德國，那裏的一些強大的出版集團和網絡公司向歐洲監管機構呼籲，阻止這家美國搜索引擎巨頭在網絡地圖、旅行服務和購物等領域阻撓競爭的行爲。

“The E.U. competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, will decide what steps they want to go,” Günther Oettinger, a German politician who is charge of Europe’s digital economy, told Die Welt am Sonntag, a German newspaper, on Sunday. “I think that they will be far-reaching.”

“歐盟競爭委員瑪格麗特·韋斯塔格爾會決定他們將採取那些措施，”分管歐洲數碼經濟的德國政治人物金特·厄廷格(Günther Oettinger)週日對德國報紙《週日世界報》(Die Welt am Sonntag)說。“我認爲相關措施會產生深遠影響。”

If Google fails to rebut any formal charges, Ms. Vestager could levy a fine that could exceed 6 billion euros, or $6.4 billion — about 10 percent of Google’s most recent annual revenue. But the largest single fine yet levied in such a case falls well short of that mark: The record is 1.1 billion in 2009 against Intel for abusing its dominance of the computer chip market.

如果谷歌無法反駁任何正式指控，維斯塔格爾可以對其處以超過60億歐元（約合396億元人民幣）的罰款——大概是谷歌最近一年的年收入的10%。不過此類案件迄今做出過的最高額罰款遠遠低於這個數字：目前的紀錄是2009年創下的，當時英特爾(Intel)因濫用電腦芯片市場絕對優勢地位被罰11億歐元。

The commission previously spent years reining in Microsoft, which accrued a total of almost 2 billion in European fines over a decade, including a penalty in 2013 for failing to adhere to an earlier settlement.

此前，歐盟委員會曾耗費數年時間對微軟加以控制，令這家公司在10年裏累積向歐洲支付了將近20億歐元的罰款，包括在2013年因未能履行較早前的一份和解協議而受罰。

Google still could settle the matter. But whatever the search giant might negotiate with the commission, analysts say, the deal will have a greater impact on its business than previous attempts to settle. Ms. Vestager’s predecessor, Joaquín Almunia, gave Google three opportunities to make concessions that were aimed at allowing the company to escape both a fine and a formal finding of wrongdoing.

谷歌依然有望達成和解。然而分析人士說，不管搜索巨頭跟委員會如何協商，這一次的協議對其業務的影響，都將超過此前的幾次和解努力。維斯塔格爾的前任華金·阿爾穆尼亞(Joaquín Almunia)曾給了谷歌三次妥協的機會，旨在讓該公司逃脫一項罰款和一項正式的不法行爲裁決。

Those settlement efforts repeatedly ran afoul of Google’s rivals, including American companies like Microsoft and Yelp, which successfully complained that most of the changes proposed by Google have been insufficient to solve the antitrust concerns identified by regulators.

這些和解努力不斷地引起谷歌的競爭對手的異議，其中包括微軟和Yelp等美國公司，它們訴稱谷歌提出的修改不足以解決監管機構認定的反壟斷問題，並最終獲得成功。

“Everyone should have equal treatment,” said Thomas Vinje, a lawyer for FairSearch Europe, which represents Google rivals. “Google should apply its own algorithm fairly to everything, including its own services.”

“每個人都應該得到平等對待，”谷歌競爭對手的代理律師、公平搜索組織(FairSearch)歐洲分支機構的托馬斯·維尼亞(Thomas Vinje)說。“谷歌的算法應該對所有東西一視同仁，包括它自己的服務。”