Google in anti-trust talks with the EU

Google is in discussions with the European Union in a bid to settle an anti-trust investigation into its market-leading search engine, according to reports.

Reuters reported on Monday that Google is in "tentative talks" to resolve the matter, in an attempt to avoid a lengthy legal battle and potentially large fine.

However, a source familiar with the case told the news service that there are "no really concrete proposals on the table".

The EU opened its investigation into Google after accusations that the search firm lowered the unpaid rankings of its competitors' services and promoted its own services in their place.

The company is also accused of lowering the 'Quality Score' for sponsored links from competing search services, meaning that the competition has to pay more to effectively achieve the same ranking.

Google's outgoing chief executive, Eric Schmidt, told The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend that he did not want the firm to be embroiled in the same sort of anti-trust battle with the EU that Microsoft had endured for over a decade.

"I think it is in our interests, and I would hope in their interests, to do a quick analysis of concerns that have been raised by competitors," he told the paper.

"Hopefully they are minor or they are not correct, and we'll find out and make sure we are operating well within the law and the spirit of the law."