French web publisher 1plusV has filed a lawsuit against Google in the Paris Commercial Court, seeking EUR 295 million in damages and claiming that Google gives preference to its own sites in search query results thereby preventing rivals from winning advertising revenue. 1plusV told Bloomberg that it also wants the court to order Google to post details of this alleged anticompetitive behaviour on its French home page for three months. It alleges that Google acted unethically during four years to cripple its ability to generate business and advertising, describing Google's actions as a "suffocation of technological competitors". The French firm has made two similar filings to the EU competition regulators in 2010 and February 2011. Google is currently under the scrutiny of the European Commission and faces an inquiry from the US Federal Trade Commission. The US giant's Brussels office told Bloomberg that it had only just received the complaint so could not comment on yet. Google did say that it always tries to do what's best for its users, and that it looks forward to explaining this key principle that drives the company.
