多家美企致信歐盟支持對谷歌處以重罰

Some of Google’s fiercest corporate critics in the US have written to Europe’s antitrust chief backing what is expected to be a record fine against the internet search company, and rejecting claims that the case has been fuelled by anti-American bias.

美國一些對谷歌(Google)持最強烈批評態(tài)度的企業(yè)致信歐洲最高反壟斷官員，支持對這家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索公司處以金額有望創(chuàng)紀錄的罰款，并反駁了該案受到反美偏見推動的說法。

“As US companies, we wish to go on record that enforcement action against Google is necessary and appropriate, not provincial,” the seven signatories, including News Corp, Oracle and Yelp, wrote.

在信上簽名的7家企業(yè)——其中包括新聞集團(News Corp)、甲骨文(Oracle)和Yelp——寫道：“作為美國企業(yè)，我們希望公開聲明，對谷歌采取的執(zhí)法行動是必要和適當?shù)?，不是地方保護主義。”

The attempt to dispel claims of European protectionism came ahead of the expected announcement on Tuesday of a fine topping €1bn against the US search company over an eight-year-old probe involving online shopping.

此舉是對有關(guān)歐洲奉行貿(mào)易保護主義說法的反駁。預(yù)計，歐盟周二將宣布對谷歌處以逾10億歐元罰款，這一處罰是基于一項長達8年的對在線購物問題的調(diào)查。

Signatories to the letter supporting the EU action include some of Google’s most bitter rivals. Oracle won a contentious copyright case against the search company last year, while News Corp has long railed against Google’s growing power over the media industry. Yelp has pushed — so far unsuccessfully — for Brussels to take up its own antitrust complaint against the company.

在上述信上簽字支持歐盟處罰行動的，包括谷歌一些最激烈的競爭對手。甲骨文去年打贏了一場充滿爭議的、針對谷歌的版權(quán)官司，新聞集團則長期抨擊谷歌對傳媒產(chǎn)業(yè)日益增強的影響力。Yelp已推動歐盟接受它自己提出的針對谷歌的反壟斷申訴，但迄今未獲成功。

The case has threatened to ignite simmering unhappiness in Silicon Valley and Washington over Europe’s recent challenges to leading US tech companies. These last burst into the open a year ago when Apple fiercely criticised a €13.2bn fine levied over the special tax deal it had struck with Ireland.

該案可能會引爆硅谷和華盛頓方面對歐洲近期挑戰(zhàn)美國頂尖高科技公司行為的不滿。在硅谷和華盛頓，這種不滿情緒已接近臨界點。這種情緒上次公開爆發(fā)是在一年前。當時，蘋果(Apple)猛烈抨擊了因它與愛爾蘭達成的特殊稅務(wù)協(xié)議而受到的132億歐元罰款。