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The European Commission has just delivered a fillip to the many rivals who would like to see the power of Google’s search engine curtailed. But even the power of Brussels cannot turn the clock back a decade on the consumer internet.
欧盟委员会(European Commission)给很多希望看到谷歌(Google)搜索引擎的实力受到制约的对手们注射了一剂强心针。但即使布鲁塞尔也无法在消费者互联网上让时光倒流10年。
Foundem — the tiny UK shopping service that was the first to lodge a formal antitrust complaint against Google in Brussels, leading to this week’s record 2.4bn fine against the company — has mothballed its online service. Visitors are informed that, because of the way Google unfairly penalises the company in its search results, “few visitors reach Foundem to witness how it has become a pale shadow of its former self”.
英国小型购物服务平台Foundem——首个在布鲁塞尔针对谷歌提出正式反垄断申诉的公司，最终导致谷歌最近被创纪录地罚款24亿欧元——暂停了其在线服务。访问者收到提示称，由于谷歌以不公平的手段使其在搜索结果中处于不利位置，“几乎没有访客可以访问Foundem，来目睹它是如何从之前的状况变得如此黯然失色的”。
Other companies involved in online comparison shopping, the service that was the focus of the commission’s case, have seen much of their business wiped out. Richard Stables, chief executive of Kelkoo, said this week that his company had missed out on “10 years of development and growth”. The revenues Kelkoo generates from visitors referred by search engines have all but disappeared since 2010, falling from $12m to $200,000.
其他从事在线比价购物（该服务是这个欧盟委员会案件的关注焦点）的公司发现自己失去了很大一部分业务。Kelkoo首席执行官理查德?斯特布尔斯(Richard Stables)最近表示，他的公司错过了“10年的发展和增长”。自2010年以来，Kelkoo通过由搜索引擎导入的访问者获得的收入几乎消失，从1200万美元下降至20万美元。
Pursuing private lawsuits against Google, which had been put on hold pending the EU decision, may now be the best business model open to such companies. “The amount of damages that is going to come against Google is going to be much, much higher than what the EU Commission fined them today,” said Mr Stables.
如今，单独针对谷歌提起诉讼——此前这类诉讼被搁置以等待欧盟裁决——可能是这类公司可用的最佳商业模式。“要求谷歌支付的损害赔偿金金额将会远远高于欧盟委员会开出的罚单，”斯特布尔斯表示。
Google, not surprisingly, has had a different slant on events. Many comparative shopping sites have simply been rendered redundant by the evolution of online shopping and changing consumer expectations, said Kent Walker, the search company’s general counsel, in a blog post on Tuesday.
并不令人意外的是，谷歌对这些事件持有不同的观点。谷歌总法律顾问肯特?沃克(Kent Walker)在博客文章中表示，很多比价购物网站只是因为在线购物的演变和消费者预期的不断改变而被淘汰。
Whichever version of events is closer to the truth, the action in Brussels, which came eight years after Foundem first brought its complaint, does not seem likely to make much difference to the way consumers carry out online research into products they are thinking of buying.
无论哪种版本更贴近真相，布鲁塞尔的决定——在Foundem最初提交申诉的8年后作出裁决——似乎不太可能改变消费者对自己想购买的产品进行在线搜索的方式。
“It’s way too late to save competition in comparison shopping,” said Gary Reback, a US lawyer who has represented a number of US companies in the field. “The companies Google has run out of business aren’t coming back.”
“现在挽救比价购物行业的竞争为时已晚，”代表该领域很多美国企业的美国律师加里?瑞贝克(Gary Reback)表示，“被谷歌挤掉业务的企业回不来了。”
However, the commission’s intervention could still ricochet through other corners of the search business. In announcing the expected fine on Tuesday, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, delivered what Google’s rivals had been hoping for: a broad statement of principle that could limit the search company’s power in other markets.
然而，欧盟委员会的干预仍可能在搜索业务的其他领域引起反响。在宣布预期中的处罚时，欧盟竞争事务专员玛格丽特?维斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)传达了谷歌的竞争对手希望听到的结果：一份关于原则的宽泛声明，可能限制该搜索公司在其他市场的实力。
In future, she said, Google will be required to give rivals “equal treatment” — the same as its own services in its search results. That requirement could be used to limit Google’s ability to promote its own services in other specialised, or “vertical”, parts of the search market, including travel and local advertising.
维斯特格称，未来谷歌将被要求为竞争对手提供“平等对待”——在其搜索结果中给予与谷歌服务同样的对待。这一要求可能被用来限制谷歌在搜索市场其他专业（即“垂直”）领域推广自己的服务，包括旅游和地方广告。
“The commission seems to be signalling that this is the first domino to fall, and other verticals may be on the way,” said Luther Lowe, head of public policy at Yelp, the US local recommendations service. The EU’s ruling could also encourage other regulators around the world to take action, he said.
“欧盟委员会似乎在传达一个信号，这是第一个倒下的多米诺骨牌，未来可能还有其他垂直领域的行动，”美国本地服务推荐网站Yelp的公共政策负责人卢瑟?洛韦(Luther Lowe)表示。他称，欧盟的裁决可能也会鼓励世界各地其他监管部门采取行动。
One question now is how the search company itself responds to this week’s EU action. It could try to stall, filing a legal challenge that would suspend any action pending a future legal appeal. That could put off a final conclusion for years.
现在的问题之一是谷歌如何回应欧盟的行动。它可能会试着拖延，提出法律挑战以搁置欧盟裁决，等待未来上诉结果。那可能把最终结论拖延到多年以后。
But that would put the company at loggerheads with the commission at a time when it badly needs to repair relations in Brussels, one rival points out. With the commission working on two other antitrust cases against the company, involving Android and Google’s advertising service, this would be a bad time to make enemies.
但一家竞争对手指出，那么做可能会使该公司处于欧盟委员会的对立面，而目前谷歌急需修补与布鲁塞尔的关系。在欧盟委员会正在处理另外两起针对谷歌的反垄断案（涉及安卓(Android)和谷歌的广告服务）之际，现在不是树敌的时候。
Striking a more conciliatory stance, for instance by bowing to and offering more concessions to the comparative shopping sites, would reduce this risk. But it could also open the door sooner for others to capitalise on this week’s ruling.
放软身段会降低这种风险，比如服从裁决并对比价购物网站作出更多让步。但这也可能意味着更早打开大门，让其他对手钻欧盟委员会裁决的空子。
Companies in other specialist search markets have already been lining up to push their cases. Complaints lodged with the commission during its eight-year review included local search, maps, travel and news aggregation. The commission put those to one side as it focused on comparative shopping, but the companies argue that they have already gone a long way towards making their case.
其他专业搜索市场的企业已经在排队陈述自己的主张。在8年审查期间，欧盟委员会收到的申诉包括本地搜索、地图、旅行和新闻集合。委员会将那些申诉搁到一边，专注于购物比价服务，但这些企业认为，他们已经拿出了不少支撑自己主张的证据。
“We have done our homework — our members have been providing evidence [to the commission] over the past five years,” said Christoph Klenner, head of the ETTSA, a European trade group for online travel companies.
代表在线旅行社的行业协会“欧洲技术和旅游服务协会”(ETTSA)负责人克里斯托夫?克伦纳(Christoph Klenner)表示：“我们做足了功课——我们的会员过去5年一直在（向委员会）提交证据。”
Yet the need to build a watertight legal case is still likely to make Brussels cautious about rushing to extend its ruling to new markets. Ms Vestager was at pains this week to point out the exhaustive investigation her department had carried out into comparison shopping, including gathering data on the equivalent of 1.7bn search queries, before reaching its conclusion.
然而，因为需要提出构建一个在法律上滴水不漏的案子，布鲁塞尔方面可能慎之又慎，不愿将其裁决延伸到新的市场。维斯特格不厌其烦地强调，她的部门是在对比价购物服务展开了详尽调查（包括采集17亿条搜索查询的数据）之后，才得出了结论。
According to internet search experts, meanwhile, markets such as local search advertising have already tipped in favour of Google, leaving rival internet giants such as Facebook and Amazon as the only likely challengers.
与此同时，互联网搜索专家表示，本地搜索广告等市场已经变得有利于谷歌，仅存的潜在挑战者就是其他的那些互联网巨擘了，比如Facebook和亚马逊(Amazon)。
“The [local search] market has coalesced around Google — the question is whether Facebook steps up to be a full-on competitor,” said Greg Sterling, head of strategy at the Local Search Association. “There’s a sense that Google and Facebook have too much power and control, and everyone else is being squeezed.”
“（本地搜索）市场已经在围着谷歌转——问题在于，Facebook会不会向前迈出一步，全面投入竞争。”本地搜索协会(Local Search Association)的战略主管格雷格?斯特林(Greg Sterling)说，“人们感觉谷歌和Facebook拥有太强的实力和掌控力，其他所有人都被挤到一边了。”
One market where Google has yet to use its search dominance to build a clear lead involves online travel. But applying the findings in the comparative shopping case to the company’s hotel and flight search services will not be straightforward.
在线旅行是谷歌还未利用其搜索支配地位构建起清晰领导地位的市场之一。但是，要把比价购物案中的裁决结果应用于谷歌的酒店和航班搜索服务，并不是直截了当的。
Before deciding whether to take up new cases against Google, Brussels will look at “the characteristics of each market and the facts in a specific case”, said Ms Vestager. The way Google’s travel services operate shows just how different these can be.
维斯特格表示，在决定是否对谷歌提起新的案件之前，布鲁塞尔方面将考察“每个市场的特点以及相关个案的事实”。谷歌旅行服务的经营方式，显示出这其中存在巨大的差异。
Its hotel finder, for instance, relies on online travel agents such as Expedia and TripAdvisor competing to supply listings. Its flight search, on the other hand, depends on information supplied directly by airlines, shutting out the agents, while giving the airlines a new channel to sell directly to consumers.
例如，谷歌的酒店搜索器依赖于Expedia和TripAdvisor等在线旅行社，由其竞争提供可选酒店。谷歌的航班搜索则依赖于航空公司直接提供的信息，将中介排除在外，同时为航空公司提供一个直接向消费者销售机票的新渠道。
Differences like these mean there is no guarantee that the findings in the comparative shopping case will be applicable to other corners of search. But with this week’s ruling, Google’s rivals have at least been given an opening to make their case.
此类差异意味着，比价购物案中的发现未必适用其他搜索市场。但欧盟委员会的裁决至少给了谷歌的对手们一个机会，让他们陈述自己的主张。
