A French court ordered Google to post a notice on its homepage informing users that the company was fined €150,000 ($205,000) due to the violation of data collection laws.
The decision, made on Friday, came after Google filed a last minute appeal in France's highest appeals court for administrative cases, Conseild'Etat. The appeal stated that posting the notice was a very severe punishment and it may tarnish Google's reputation in an irreparable manner. The French court ordered Google to print the notice using Arial in font size 13 and to display it right below the search box.
Although the €150,000 fine seems to be a small amount for a company as big as Google, it is the maximum fine that the court could impose. The company is more worried about posting the notice on Google.fr which is supposed to be displayed for 48 hours. According to report by the Wall Street Journal, Google told the court that the company has always "maintained that [homepage] page in a virgin state."
Google can still file an appeal for the fine but it could not avoid posting the notice on its homepage.
The French court explained their decision in a press release reasoning that the Internet giant failed to prove that the order would really create permanent damage to the company's reputation and financial goals. Also, the company did not convince the court that the order will harm public interest.
According to Gigaom, the decision of the French court is not the first in requiring an American company to post a notice on their homepage. In 2013, Apple was required to publish a notice on their website informing the publich that Samsung made no violations in the design patent for iPad. A MarketingLand report also noted that in 2006, a Belgian court imposed more drastic punishments on Google.
