Google is being sued by Sweden-based price comparison service PriceRunner for €2.1 billion after a European court ruled that Google breached EU antitrust laws. Back in November then European Union’s General Court upheld a decision to fine Google a record €2.42 billion for favouring its own comparison shopping services over rivals, which is what PriceRunner is now alleging in their suit.
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“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 said that Google has a “monopoly-like” position in Europe and these practices need to be stopped to give others a fighting chance in a very competitive industry. It believes Google has still not complied with the EU Commission’s decision and is “abusing its dominant position.”
It claims that a large amount of traffic (and therefore profits) were redirected and diverted away 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.”
