Google hit with $2.4 billion lawsuit in Europe for favoring its own shopping service
Steve Dent
·Associate Editor
Mon, February 7, 2022
Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
Sweden-based price comparison service PriceRunner has announced that it's suing Google for €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) after a European court ruled that Google breached EU antitrust laws. Last November, the European Union's General Court upheld a decision to fine Google a record €2.42 billion (US$2.8 billion) for favoring its own comparison shopping services over rivals.
"We are ... seeking compensation for the damage Google has caused us during many years, but are also seeing this lawsuit as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years and still today," said PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl.
PriceRunner claimed that Google has a "monopoly-like position" in Europe adding that it believes it has still not complied with the EU Commission's decision and is "abusing it's dominant position." As such, it claimed that traffic and profits are diverted from itself and other shopping services, and that its offers are higher than other services, harming consumers. "Since the violation is still ongoing the amount of damages increases every day, we expect the final damages amount of the lawsuit to be significantly higher," it wrote.
Google lost its first appeal against the EU fine, but it launched another one last month, saying "we feel there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice." Engadget has reached out to Google for comment on the PriceRunner lawsuit.
Steve Dent
·Associate Editor
Mon, February 7, 2022
Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
Sweden-based price comparison service PriceRunner has announced that it's suing Google for €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) after a European court ruled that Google breached EU antitrust laws. Last November, the European Union's General Court upheld a decision to fine Google a record €2.42 billion (US$2.8 billion) for favoring its own comparison shopping services over rivals.
"We are ... seeking compensation for the damage Google has caused us during many years, but are also seeing this lawsuit as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years and still today," said PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl.
PriceRunner claimed that Google has a "monopoly-like position" in Europe adding that it believes it has still not complied with the EU Commission's decision and is "abusing it's dominant position." As such, it claimed that traffic and profits are diverted from itself and other shopping services, and that its offers are higher than other services, harming consumers. "Since the violation is still ongoing the amount of damages increases every day, we expect the final damages amount of the lawsuit to be significantly higher," it wrote.
Google lost its first appeal against the EU fine, but it launched another one last month, saying "we feel there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice." Engadget has reached out to Google for comment on the PriceRunner lawsuit.
PriceRunner sues Google for 2.1 billion euros, prepares for long fight
Supantha Mukherjee
Mon, February 7, 2022
The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City
By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish price comparison firm PriceRunner said on Monday it was suing Alphabet-owned Google for about 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion), the latest firm to take legal action alleging the search giant manipulated search results.
Google in November lost an appeal against a 2.42 billion-euro fine it received in 2017 which found using its own price comparison shopping service gave the company an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
"They are still abusing the market to a very high extent and haven't changed basically anything," PriceRunner Chief Executive Mikael Lindahl told Reuters in an interview.
PriceRunner, which is in the process of being bought by Swedish fintech Klarna, said a lawsuit it filed in Sweden aimed to make Google pay compensation for the profit it had lost in Britain since 2008, as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.
A Google spokesperson said the company would defend the lawsuit in court.
"The changes we made to shopping ads back in 2017 are working successfully ... PriceRunner chose not to use shopping ads on Google, so may not have seen the same successes that others have," the Google spokesperson said.
Lindahl said PriceRunner was prepared to fight for many years, had secured tens of millions of euros in external financing and had steps in place in the event it did not win.
The European Commission's 2017 fine was the result of a seven-year investigation triggered by scores of complaints that Google distorted internet search results to favour its shopping service, harming rivals and consumers.
The Commission found https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_17_1784
Supantha Mukherjee
Mon, February 7, 2022
The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City
By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish price comparison firm PriceRunner said on Monday it was suing Alphabet-owned Google for about 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion), the latest firm to take legal action alleging the search giant manipulated search results.
Google in November lost an appeal against a 2.42 billion-euro fine it received in 2017 which found using its own price comparison shopping service gave the company an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
"They are still abusing the market to a very high extent and haven't changed basically anything," PriceRunner Chief Executive Mikael Lindahl told Reuters in an interview.
PriceRunner, which is in the process of being bought by Swedish fintech Klarna, said a lawsuit it filed in Sweden aimed to make Google pay compensation for the profit it had lost in Britain since 2008, as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.
A Google spokesperson said the company would defend the lawsuit in court.
"The changes we made to shopping ads back in 2017 are working successfully ... PriceRunner chose not to use shopping ads on Google, so may not have seen the same successes that others have," the Google spokesperson said.
Lindahl said PriceRunner was prepared to fight for many years, had secured tens of millions of euros in external financing and had steps in place in the event it did not win.
The European Commission's 2017 fine was the result of a seven-year investigation triggered by scores of complaints that Google distorted internet search results to favour its shopping service, harming rivals and consumers.
The Commission found https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_17_1784
Google systematically gave prominent placement to its own comparison shopping service and demoted rival comparison shopping services in its search results.
"European consumers have been denied real choice in shopping services for many years and this is one step to ensuring this ends now," a Klarna spokesperson said.
Klarna in November agreed to buy PriceRunner from investment firm Creades for 1.06 billion Swedish crowns ($124.36 million).
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
Axel Springer's price comparison shopping service Idealo https://www.idealo.de/unternehmen/pressemitteilungen/idealo-suing-google-for-damages-caused-by-its-abuse-of-market-dominance then sued Google in 2019 for 500 million euros.
($1 = 0.8749 euros)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; editing by Simon Johnson and Jason Neely)
"European consumers have been denied real choice in shopping services for many years and this is one step to ensuring this ends now," a Klarna spokesperson said.
Klarna in November agreed to buy PriceRunner from investment firm Creades for 1.06 billion Swedish crowns ($124.36 million).
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
Axel Springer's price comparison shopping service Idealo https://www.idealo.de/unternehmen/pressemitteilungen/idealo-suing-google-for-damages-caused-by-its-abuse-of-market-dominance then sued Google in 2019 for 500 million euros.
($1 = 0.8749 euros)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; editing by Simon Johnson and Jason Neely)
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