Photo agency Getty Images says it
will file a competition lawsuit with the EU against Google, adding to a
long list of European cases against the company.
US-based Getty argues that changes to Google's picture search promote piracy and give the tech giant unfair advantages in traffic and advertising.
Google already faces charges over breaching EU competition laws.
The company has in the past dismissed allegations it has used its dominant position to stifle competition.
Accidental piracy
Getty
Images says Google is displaying pictures in its search results that
takes away traffic that would otherwise go to Getty's own website.
The
photo agency argues that because image consumption is immediate, once
an image is displayed in large format by Google, there is little reason
for the users to continue to the original source site of a given picture
they are viewing.
"These changes have allowed Google to
reinforce its role as the internet's dominant search engine, maintaining
monopoly over site traffic, engagement data and advertising spend,"
Getty said in a press release.
"This has also promoted piracy, resulting in widespread copyright infringement, turning users into accidental pirates."
Getty
said it represented more than 200,000 photo journalists, content
creators and artists worldwide who depend on being paid for their work.
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