Google Experiences EU Antitrust Friction Over Doubleclick

An anonymous reader writes "Here in the US, the Google purchase of Doubleclick is old news. Despite a few hiccups, the news of April and May seems well in the past. In the European Union, though, the discussion begins anew again as Google seeks permission from EU antitrust regulators. From the article: 'The European Commission said it had set a review deadline of October 26, when it could approve the deal, give a two-week extension or open an in-depth, four-month investigation ... The Commission has already sent questionnaires asking competitors and customers what they think about the deal. Google has already filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and with the Australian competition regulator.'"

Comments

misleading headline

[User 956]

The European Commission said it had set a review deadline of October 26, when it could approve the deal, give a two-week extension or open an in-depth, four-month investigation

It's not friction unless the EU doesn't approve the deal on October 26. Until then, this is normal process. I would question who this "anonymous reader" who submitted the misleading headline is.

Re:Asking the competitors what they think..

[Teun]

The bias though which the community spins EU's actions is hilarious, but I see this is consistent to what they did with Microsoft, charging them nearly a billion because they shipped a video player in their OS.
Look who spins!
Microsoft is still being investigated because they continue to spoil the playing field for others.
In Europe, just like the USofA, a company in a near-monopoly situation has greater obligations than a start up, Microsoft continues to challenge that notion.
Of course the EU commission could have picked better examples, like opening the specs to allow access to NTFS and supporting Samba.

I've a question: who'll protect us from the monopoly of the EU? Did anyone ask YOU if you want them protecting your rights in THIS particular fashion? I feel very happy we have an active EU commission.
The problem is they see these things as a legal challenge while I would like more technical issues like interoperability being discussed.

Did someone ask you when EU slapped VAT and sales tax on online purchases? Do I have a choice, short of moving to a different continent. I would find it weird, even unacceptable, when internet companies would have a tax advantage over a regular one.
So charging the local/national VAT at the place of destination sounds, as far as any sales tax goes, really fair for all.

Re:A European company?

[JanneM]

I wonder if the EU would be so vigilant if Google was started and owned by a pair of Europeans? Actually, yes. Most antitrust action in the EU has been concerning European companies, not outside ones. And if anything, the commission tends to be harsher towards those than others (since it violates the idea of free trade within the EU).