When it comes to things like the ACTA, it seems like governments have made a habit of hitting legitimate companies that provide services for free with fines. In fact, France just recently ordered Google (News - Alert) to pay a fine and damages to BottingCartographes, a company that makes digital maps, for the simple fact that Google Maps is free. The argument is that companies that require its users to pay fees are suffering from such things.

BottinCartographes won a lawsuit against Google after it filed a complaint for "unfair competition," arguing that the search engine was taking advantage of its influence over the Internet to push forth its digital mapping product. The Paris Commercial Court sided with BottinCartographes and made Google pay 500 thousand Euros to the company, fully packaged with a complementary 15 thousand Euro fine.

BottinCartographes had a strong argument, granted, because it said that Google had an agenda behind its mapping product. Of course, Google doesn't make any money for providing maps to its users, but the digital mapping company suing Google claims that it's sacrificing profits to push its mapping and location services to the top of its spectrum. In other words, the company is accusing Google of a conspiracy to eliminate its competition, and then charging whatever comes to mind for its services.

BottinCartographes' lawyer, Jean-David Scemmama, commented on the situation: "We proved the illegality of Google's strategy to remove its competitors. The court recognized the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated BottinCartographes all it claimed." The only thing we heard from Google is that it will take the ruling to an appelate court.

Of course, the fine and damages didn't make a dent in Google's budget, but the ruling made by French court could be a prelude to even more regulatory legislation that will put the company in conflict with the EU as a whole. Google currently faces antitrust issues with France, regarding its AdWords product, and the court has already ruled that Google is guilty of the same thing it was just charged with right now: Abusing its influence on the Internet to push its product. France isn't the only country banging on Google's door, though. Brussels hopped on the bandwagon, saying that Google was pushing Google Maps with its influence. Germany also forced Google to get rid of Street View for its country, because of concern over personal privacy.