A French court has ruled that Google is guilty of abusing the dominance of Google Maps, and so has ordered it to pay a fine and damages to a French mapping company.

Apparently Bottin Cartographes argued that Google was planning to offer Maps for free only until all the competitors had been driven out of business — then, it argued, Google would start charging, reports AFP. The result? The court ordered Google to pay $660,000 in damages.

Understandably, Google is looking to appeal. Surely that stands a good chance, seeing as the argument used by Bottin is nothing like Google's usual policy of giving away services for free, in exchange for, well, all your personal information. [AFP]