Google has successfully overturned a €1.49 billion (£1.26 billion) fine imposed by the European Union for allegedly blocking rival online search advertisers. The European Commission had accused the tech giant of abusing its market dominance by restricting third-party competitors from displaying search ads between 2006 and 2016.

However, Europe’s General Court ruled that the Commission made “errors in its assessment” and annulled the fine. The Commission is considering its next steps, which could include an appeal to the EU’s top court.

Google welcomed the decision, stating, “We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine.” The company said it would review the full ruling closely.

This ruling marks a rare victory for Google, which has faced a series of antitrust fines from the EU totaling €8.2 billion between 2017 and 2019. Last week, the company failed in its bid to overturn one of those fines.

Google’s ad tech business is also under scrutiny in other jurisdictions. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently found that Google used anti-competitive practices to dominate the advertising market. In the US, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, faces a lawsuit from the government, accusing it of monopolizing the ad tech industry. Alphabet has defended itself, saying its dominance is a result of its superior products.

The case in Europe centered around Google’s AdSense, a product that places ads on websites, effectively making Google a middleman for advertisers. The Commission argued that Google abused its market power by forcing websites to exclusively use AdSense for their ad services, reinforced by restrictive clauses in its contracts.

While the court upheld most of the Commission’s findings, it ruled that the fine was unjustified because the Commission had not fully considered all aspects of the contract clauses and the market definition, failing to prove an abuse of dominant position.