Martin v. Alphabet: Searching For Private Enforcement At The Competition Tribunal

Google and Apple are the targets of the first ever private claim for compensation before the Competition Tribunal, in a proposed application that raises allegations of abuse of dominance under s. 79 of the Competition Act, and anticompetitive agreements under s. 90.1 of the Act.

The proposed application claims that Google is dominant in the market for online search in Canada, controlling more than 90% of the market. It is alleged that Google has built up, and maintains, this dominance through anticompetitive agreements with major web browsers and original equipment manufacturers. According to the application, under these agreements Google shares a portion of its advertising revenue in exchange for Google having its search engine programmed as the default search engine on a variety of web browsers and devices. These agreements are said to disadvantage other rival and potential rival search engines, limiting competition in the Canadian market for online search.