Google fined for making Google Maps free

This is ridiculous. Google has every right to deliver a product for free. Is Wikipedia liable for legal action as well, then?

Tech World reports:

Google has been ordered to pay a fine and damages to a French mapping company after a court ruled that the search giant was guilty of unfair competition and "undercutting competitors" by making its Google Maps program free.

According to Agence France Presse (AFP), Bottin Cartographes, a French mapping company that provides essentially the same service as Google Maps for a fee - brought a suit claiming that Google was "abusing" its dominant position by making its service free.

Google's strategy is, apparently, to undercut competitors by "temporarily swallowing the full cost until it gains control of the market," AFP reported.

A Paris-based commercial court agreed with Bottin Cartographes and ordered Google to pay 500,000 euro (£415,000) damages to Bottin Cartographes, as well as a fine of 15,000 euro (£12,500).

Bottin Cartographes should consider how to monetise their service and what they can offer that Google can't, instead of resorting to suing them.