The Federal Cartel Office wants to increasingly put large tech companies such as Amazon and Google in their place. But how far can the authority go? The BGH Cartel Senate should now clarify a question about this.
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) is today dealing with the protection of the technology giant Google’s trade and business secrets in an antitrust case. The core issue here is the question of whether and to what extent the Federal Cartel Office is allowed to pass on confidential information to competitors.
The background is that Germany’s highest competition authorities want to prohibit the group from engaging in “various anti-competitive behaviors” at its Google Automotive Services (GAS). It’s a product bundle consisting of the Google Maps map service, a version of the Google Play app store and the Google Assistant voice assistant. Vehicle manufacturers such as Volvo, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Polestar use GAS; German manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW are not included.
Competitors TomTom and Cerence have complained
According to the information, Google generally only offers the services to manufacturers together and, in the opinion of the Federal Cartel Office, sets further requirements for the presentation of the services in the infotainment system of cars so that they are used preferentially. Two competitors have complained to the authority: the map specialist TomTom and the voice assistant specialist Cerence. The cartel office warned Google Germany and its parent company Alphabet in June and informed them about the competition concerns.
Google then made suggestions for solutions, as the BGH announced. The cartel office plans to disclose parts of the previous investigation results to two Google competitors so that they can comment on the competition concerns. “Google complains that this would reveal Google’s operational and business secrets to competitors and has lodged a complaint against the disclosure of individual, specifically designated text passages.”
In order to protect trade and business secrets, the Cartel Senate at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe could exclude the public from essential parts of the proceedings. It could also be that the jurisdiction of the BGH is still being discussed. It was initially unclear when he would announce a decision.
Source: Stern
