French company 1plusV owed 295 Million Euros by Google?

Already behind a lawsuit being looked at by the European commission, editor Ejustice.fr has gone on to bigger things claiming Google owes them 295 million Euros.

In the United States, Google is currently under investigation by the FTC, adding to the investigations opened against then in Europe in November 2010. The investigations centre on a possible abuse of their dominant position after numerous companies including French 1plusV who manages the search site Ejustice.fr specialising in legal searches, filed papers claiming unfair treatment.

1plusV criticised Google’s search algorithms which penalised their sites ranking display in the search results page, as they are considered to be competing vertical search engines.

For 1plusV, who also edits Eguides.fr, this is due to Google abusing their dominant position, with the company accusing the search giant of limiting the visibility of their competitors to force people to use their own search technologies which will point to one of their advertised services. The editor also accuses Google of operating "grey differentials".

The essential accusations are based on the period of 2007 to 2010. After the European Commission, 1plusV announced as a plaintiff in an action brought before the Tribunal of Commerce in Paris claiming damages of 295 million Euros.