Getty Images擬在歐盟控告谷歌

Google faces a new threat in its rapidly expandingantitrust battle with the EU after Getty Images, aleading US photo agency, complained that the searchcompany was unfairly undermining its business.

在與歐盟(EU)之間迅速升級(jí)的反壟斷大戰(zhàn)中，谷歌(Google)面臨著新的威脅，原因是領(lǐng)先的美國(guó)照片經(jīng)銷商GettyImages投訴稱，谷歌以不公平的方式侵蝕其業(yè)務(wù)。

Getty said it would file a formal complaint in Brusselstoday, arguing that Google was trying to freeride onthe business of photojournalism without generatingcontent itself.

Getty表示，將于今天在布魯塞爾提交正式控告。該公司聲稱，谷歌試圖搭Getty攝影新聞業(yè)務(wù)的便車，而不是自己生成內(nèi)容。

Specifically, Getty accused Google Images of harvesting its photographs in a way that siphonedtraffic away from Getty’s paid-for website.

具體來說，Getty指控谷歌圖片(Google Images)“收割”Getty的照片，在此過程中還把流量從Getty的收費(fèi)網(wǎng)站引走。

Margrethe Vestager, EU competition commissioner, has already issued two sets of chargesagainst Google — accusing it of abusing its dominance of web search to promote its ownshopping services, and of abusing dominance of its Android operating system to lockcustomers into using Google apps.

歐盟競(jìng)爭(zhēng)事務(wù)專員瑪格麗特•維斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)已向谷歌發(fā)出兩波指控，稱谷歌濫用其在網(wǎng)頁搜索方面的霸主地位推銷其自身的購物服務(wù)，還指控谷歌濫用其Android操作系統(tǒng)的主導(dǎo)地位把客戶鎖定于使用谷歌應(yīng)用。

The Getty complaint broaches a third area of concern known as “scraping” — where Google isaccused of using content generated by rivals to promote its own services. Some of Google’smost vocal critics are travel websites, which have accused the tech group of culling their hoteland restaurant reviews and using them to bolster the quality of Google’s own online travelservices.

Getty的控告揭開了第三個(gè)關(guān)切領(lǐng)域，稱為“數(shù)據(jù)抓取”(scraping)。在這一領(lǐng)域，谷歌被指利用競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手生成的內(nèi)容推介自己的服務(wù)。最響亮的一些批評(píng)聲音來自旅游網(wǎng)站，它們指控谷歌抓取它們的酒店和餐館評(píng)論，用于提升自身在線旅游服務(wù)的品質(zhì)。

The complaint means the European Commission will have to form a view on whether it believescompetition rules have been broken. Google declined to comment on the case but, morebroadly, denies having broken any antitrust rules.

這一控告意味著，歐盟委員會(huì)(European Commission)將不得不對(duì)其是否認(rèn)為谷歌違反了競(jìng)爭(zhēng)規(guī)則形成觀點(diǎn)。谷歌拒絕評(píng)論該案，但從整體層面上否認(rèn)自己違反了任何反壟斷規(guī)則。

Under the previous commission, Brussels decided against proceeding with similar charges onscraping against Google. However, several lawyers opposing Google said they had receivedsignals from the commission that it was becoming more receptive in light of other complaintsand the fast-changing digital landscape.

在前一屆歐盟委員會(huì)任期內(nèi)，對(duì)于針對(duì)谷歌的有關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)抓取的指控，歐盟曾決定不予受理。不過，幾位反對(duì)谷歌的律師表示，他們已接到歐盟委員會(huì)釋放的信號(hào)，稱鑒于其他控告和快速變化的數(shù)字世界格局，該委員會(huì)正變得更樂于受理這方面的控告。

Getty argues that Google abused it dominance of image searches to change “drastically” theway that it presented the agency’s photographs after January 2013, by displaying them in ahigh resolution and large format.

Getty聲稱，2013年1月以后，谷歌濫用其在圖像搜索方面的主導(dǎo)地位，“徹底”改變了展示Getty照片的方式，以高分辨率和大文件格式呈現(xiàn)這些圖像。

Yoko Miyashita, Getty’s general counsel, said this new display diverted customers away fromher company’s website, where customers would pay for them.

Getty總法律顧問Yoko Miyashita表示，這種新的展示方式將客戶從Getty的網(wǎng)站引走。在該網(wǎng)站上，客戶原本會(huì)為這些照片付費(fèi)。

Getty said it had raised its concerns with Google three years ago but Google replied that Gettyshould accept its new presentation or opt out of image search, in effect becoming invisible onthe web.

Getty表示，公司已在三年前向谷歌提出其擔(dān)憂，然而谷歌回復(fù)稱Getty應(yīng)該接受其新的圖片展示方式，否則可以選擇不參與圖片搜索——這實(shí)質(zhì)上等于在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上隱身。