Germany's Cartel Office is also dealing with two other complaints against Google: one from a social-networking site for shoppers, Ciao, which is owned by Microsoft, and one from an online maps company, Euro-Cities.

The German publisher associations have previously complained that Google profits from their online content without offering them a fair share of advertising revenue.

Although details as to the exact nature of the complaint have not yet been released, the main concern is believed to revolve around "snippets" from media websites and news articles which show up in  search results on Google News. Publishers say Google has not paid for the use of these articles, and that regulations must be tightened to protect the authors from plagiarism.

The associations also say the way search results are currently listed is unfair. In November, a BDZV official said his group wanted to know why some Google News results were ranked higher than others.

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