BRUSSELS, Belgium: Google has lost its final appeal against a €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) European Union antitrust fine, ending a years-long legal battle over allegations that it used its Android mobile operating system to block competition.

The ruling by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union on July 2 upholds a lower tribunal's decision in 2022 to reduce the original 2018 penalty from €4.34 billion to €4.1 billion.

The European Commission had accused Google of forcing smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser and the Google Play app store on Android devices while preventing them from using rival operating systems.

Rejecting Google's appeal, the court said: "The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search's abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system."

A Google spokesperson said the judgment failed to recognize the company's investment in keeping Android open, interoperable and free.

"In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018, and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers," the company said.

The Android case is one of several major antitrust actions brought by the European Commission against Google over the past 15 years. In 2017, the regulator fined the company €2.42 billion for giving its shopping comparison service an unfair advantage over competitors. Google lost its appeal in that case in 2021.

Google has accumulated nearly €11 billion in EU antitrust fines over the past decade.

Although the Android penalty represents less than 3% of Alphabet's annual profit, the ruling is expected to strengthen Europe's efforts to regulate major technology companies and could encourage additional claims for damages.

Following Google's defeat in the shopping comparison case, several companies filed lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in compensation. On July 1, a Swedish court ordered Google to pay about $1.5 billion in damages to price comparison company PriceRunner, now owned by Klarna.

Google also faces potential additional fines under the EU's Digital Markets Act over allegations that it favors its own services in search results and engages in anti-competitive practices related to its app store.