Google has until August 17 to reply to EU antitrust charges

Google has been given until mid-August to head off European Union charges of abusing its market power in a dozen EU countries and stave off a possible billion-euro fine. The European Commission in April accused Google of distorting search results to favour its shopping service, hurting both rivals and consumers. "We have asked the European Commission for additional time to review the documents they've provided us. The Commission has extended our response deadline to Aug. 17," Google spokesman Al Verney said. Apparently, the company was earlier told to respond by July 7. Neither the company or the EU competition authority had given the first deadline, but Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso confirmed the extra time given to Google. "Google asked for additional time to review the documents in the case file," he said.

Apparently, in its charge sheet to the company, the Commission said it would "set the fine at a level sufficient to ensure deterrence" if Google was found guilty. It said the penalty would be based on Google's Adwords revenue generated from European users, gross turnover from its comparison shopping service in the 12 EU countries and gross revenue from queries on Google search.