“Sitting in Two Chairs at The Same Time or The Annulment of Google’s Revenue Share Payments as an Abusive and Separate Conduct (Case T-604/18)”, by Alba Ribera

In September 2022, the General Court partially annulled the European Commission’s decision on its Google Android case regarding its portfolio-based revenue share payments (RSAs). The General Court invalidated the Commission’s finding that the RSAs were capable of restricting competition in the national markets for general search services. The reason is that this part of the decision would be based on an inaccurate interpretation of the as efficient competitor (AEC) principle and test (para 798). However, the consequences of the partial annulment did not spread across the ruling. Given that the RSAs were also incorporated into the factual context to assess the exclusionary effects of the rest of Google’s ‘carrot-and-stick strategy’, the C