The European Commission might have a hard time proving that Google abused its supposed dominant market power in the European search market.

The Commission, the European Union’s executive and regulatory arm, filed official antitrust charges against Google on Wednesday after a five-year investigation. Google is alleged to have systematically favored its own comparison shopping product, Google Shopping — conduct which could be construed as infringing EU antitrust rules.

“It is safe to say that this is a bold move for the Commission. From the outside it is not at all clear that this will be a home run for the institution,” said Alfonso Lamadrid, a senior associate at the EU and Competition Law Department of Brussels law firm Garrigues, which is not involved in the case. He made his comments during a conference call organized by industry lobbyist group the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), of which Google is a member.

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