UPDATED 15:05 EDT / AUGUST 02 2011

Google Caught in the Web of Lawsuits, Faces 9 More from the EU

Google is a lemon being squeezed to the last drop, with all the lawsuits they are being slapped with this year.  But perhaps the biggest and toughest challenge has yet to come.  Today, the EU strikes at the heart of Google with 9 antitrust court cases, according to a Reuters report.  Fighting in a foreign land, many have predicted Google to be at the losing end.  For fair trial’s sake, a leader stated otherwise.

Head of EU and Competition Law at SJ Berwin Law Firm Simon Holmes does not take into account the public perception that Google will easily succumb and be found guilty in any of the 9 cases filed against the company.  He noted, “Google’s strong position means there are lots of interests involved. But there is nothing wrong per se in having a strong position. The mere proliferation of complaints doesn’t increase the likelihood of infringements. It means there are issues certain parties want to be investigated.”

Most of the charges that the organization receives on a regular-but-not-so-welcomed basis are from their rivals, seeking to curb the proliferation of Android and Google Search.

But let’s look at some of the privacy cases Google’s battling in different countries, dealing with varied standards around how information can be used.  First there’s Google vs.South Korea:

Back in April, Google was summoned to South Korean courts for antitrust allegations by Daum Communications and NHN, the owner of the country’s largest search engine. Nearly a month later, Google’s local office was raided by authorities claiming illegal collection of data happening within Google’s AdMob platform.

Google vs. the world: In a rare occasion, Google is more likely to be filing a case against the companies that ganged up to outbid its Nortel patent offer. The team, comprised of RIM, Apple, Sony, EMC, Microsoft and Sony Ericsson, raised $4.5 billion to deny Google of the 6,000 Nortel patents needed to defend itself in patent court.

Google vs. Apple: On issue of patent infringement, a word war spurred between the current mobile OS leaders this past month.  Pressure must have mounted as Google President Eric Schmidt commented that Apple is only jealous with Android’s domination, lacking innovation of its own.

Google vs. Oracle: Arguably one of the most talked about lawsuits that Google faces is with Oracle. An overpriced complaint that led to a court ordering for Oracle to trim down the demanded amount by a rather large percent. The root cause of this battle has to do with Android’s use of Java without a formal licensing deal. Just today Oracle scored a point as the search engine mogul loses a petition to seal patent infringement documents pertaining to the current lawsuit.

When you are at the top, everyone wants to get hold of you, stripping you down from your pinnacle. Such is Google’s case. At any rate, they are now facing an x number of lawsuits in different continents.  Assessing from all the cases, the world’s number one search engine is on the defense.  But just as the sun rises, Google shares are up despite the string of legal woes and shaky US economy.


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