Tech

Tough on tech in the Eurozone

The European Union's lawsuit filed against Google on Wednesday is the latest in a salvo of antitrust actions against American tech giants. The commission will decide whether the company's search engine unfairly promotes Google products and services, and is also looking at the Android operating system.

Other companies—with both larger and smaller segments of the market—have been in EU crosshairs over alleged anti-competitive behaviors.

In 2004, Microsoft's Windows dwarfed Apple's OS and Linux, taking up 94 percent market share in personal computer operating systems. The company settled with EU regulators after allegations that it used its dominance to push other software firms out of business.

Microsoft paid more than $2 billion over a decade, including a $732 million fine in 2013 for failing to abide by earlier agreements.

Intel paid around $1.5 billion in fines after losing an appeal of a judgment stemming from a lawsuit that alleged the computer chip giant used its 70 percent market share to manipulate the marketplace. At the time, the global market for x86 CPU chips was around $30 billion a year, a third of which came from Europe.