Add Google to the list of successful American companies to run afoul of the antitrust apparatchiks in the European Union. Their offense? Dominating the markets for web searches and search advertising. Fortunately for Google, any legal action is years away (which moves fastest -- a glacier, a tortoise or an antitrust case?) by which time the market situation will likely have totally changed. European antitrust laws focus as much on protecting competing firms as they do on customers, so the legal threat is real. Prediction: Google profits will be mildly diluted over the next 2-3 years thanks to increased attorney fees.
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