Getty Images拟在欧盟控告谷歌

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.

在与欧盟(EU)之间迅速升级的反垄断大战中，谷歌(Google)面临着新的威胁，原因是领先的美国照片经销商GettyImages投诉称，谷歌以不公平的方式侵蚀其业务。

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，将于今天在布鲁塞尔提交正式控告。该公司声称，谷歌试图搭Getty摄影新闻业务的便车，而不是自己生成内容。

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

具体来说，Getty指控谷歌图片(Google Images)“收割”Getty的照片，在此过程中还把流量从Getty的收费网站引走。

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.

欧盟竞争事务专员玛格丽特•维斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)已向谷歌发出两波指控，称谷歌滥用其在网页搜索方面的霸主地位推销其自身的购物服务，还指控谷歌滥用其Android操作系统的主导地位把客户锁定于使用谷歌应用。

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的控告揭开了第三个关切领域，称为“数据抓取”(scraping)。在这一领域，谷歌被指利用竞争对手生成的内容推介自己的服务。最响亮的一些批评声音来自旅游网站，它们指控谷歌抓取它们的酒店和餐馆评论，用于提升自身在线旅游服务的品质。

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.

这一控告意味着，欧盟委员会(European Commission)将不得不对其是否认为谷歌违反了竞争规则形成观点。谷歌拒绝评论该案，但从整体层面上否认自己违反了任何反垄断规则。

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.

在前一届欧盟委员会任期内，对于针对谷歌的有关数据抓取的指控，欧盟曾决定不予受理。不过，几位反对谷歌的律师表示，他们已接到欧盟委员会释放的信号，称鉴于其他控告和快速变化的数字世界格局，该委员会正变得更乐于受理这方面的控告。

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声称，2013年1月以后，谷歌滥用其在图像搜索方面的主导地位，“彻底”改变了展示Getty照片的方式，以高分辨率和大文件格式呈现这些图像。

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

Getty总法律顾问Yoko Miyashita表示，这种新的展示方式将客户从Getty的网站引走。在该网站上，客户原本会为这些照片付费。

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担忧，然而谷歌回复称Getty应该接受其新的图片展示方式，否则可以选择不参与图片搜索——这实质上等于在互联网上隐身。