Shopcity.com files complaint with FTC over Google (*updates)
By Leah Nylen ( November 14, 2011, 17:19 GMT | Insight) -- Shopcity.com, a marketing platform and local shopping portal, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Google is stifling competition in the internet shopping market.
Washington – Shopcity.com, a marketing platform and local shopping portal, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Google is stifling competition in the internet shopping market.
In its complaint, Shopcity alleged Google used its search results to favor its own products and blocked Shopcity’s shopping sites, said Colin Pape, the company’s chief executive officer. (see here)
“There was a period of time where they blocked access to all of our sites,” Pape said in a phone interview today. “We found out it was essentially not a technical issue. It seemed it was our business model that didn’t like -- using many domain names as opposed to one.”
The company, which has been considering legal action since July, filed the complaint with the FTC Friday, Pape said.
The FTC is likely to wrap this complaint into its probe of search-giant Google’s compliance with antitrust laws. The agency issued subpoenas to Google in June seeking information on the company’s search, search advertising and its proprietary cell phone software Android.
Microsoft and other internet-companies including U.K.-based comparison-shopping site Foundem, which receives funding from Microsoft, have urged the FTC to evaluate Google and provided information that suggests the company’s practices could harm consumers.
Shopcity, which only has operations in North America, doesn’t anticipate filing a complaint with European Union regulators, but may file a complaint in Canada, according to Pape.
In its complaint, Shopcity said that Google penalized the site’s results, ranking it no higher than the fifth page of results or later. The company said it repeatedly asked Google for reconsideration, only to be rebuffed until August when Google responded that Shopcity’s sites were being penalized for cross-linking domains with duplicative content....
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