Alphabet's Google scored a big win Wednesday after the European Union's second-highest court canceled a fine of 1.49 billion euros ($1.66 billion) that antitrust officials had imposed on the search giant over how it might have restricted the way that some websites displayed ads sold by its rivals.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, levied the fine in 2019, saying Google had abused its dominance as a search engine and an advertising broker by imposing restrictive terms in contracts with third-party websites that effectively prevented Google's rivals from placing their own search adverts on those websites.

Google provides adverts to owners of news websites, blogs or travel sites that appear when readers use the website's search function. Google sells those ads through its AdSense for Search service, acting as an advertising broker between advertisers and website owners.

EU antitrust officials said at the time that Google's alleged misconduct stretched over more than 10 years, but came to an end in 2016. The General Court of the European Union upheld most of the commission's findings about Google's practices but canceled the fine, saying the commission was wrong in its assessment of the duration of contract clauses that officials had deemed abusive.

Google didn't respond to a request for comment, while a spokesperson for the commission said the executive would carefully study the ruling and reflect on possible next steps. The decision can still be challenged at the European Court of Justice, the bloc's highest court.