Google Did Not 'Abuse' Dominance in Maps, UK Court Rules

Google won a lawsuit against online mapping company Streetmap EU after a London court found the Internet-search engine hadn’t abused its power to crush the tiny British rival.

Google’s introduction of an image displaying its own maps at the top of search results in 2007 was not "reasonably likely" to affect competition in the markets for online maps, Judge Peter Roth said. The change gave Google an unfair advantage over other mapping providers and resulted in a "dramatic loss of traffic," Streetmap said in court documents. Though "Google held a dominant position, it did not commit an abuse," Judge Roth said in the judgment.