You can access the press release of the court order from here.
A Swedish court has ordered Google to pay 14.3 billion Swedish kronor (about $1.5 billion) in damages, plus interest, to PriceRunner after finding that the company illegally favoured its own price comparison service over rivals in search results for years. The Patent and Market Court in Stockholm awarded the largest competition damages ever ordered by a Swedish court. Google can appeal the decision.
Background: The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by PriceRunner, which is now owned by Klarna. The company sought about 78-80 billion Swedish kronor, including interest, arguing that Google’s search practices reduced its traffic and profits in the UK from 2008 and in Sweden and Denmark from 2013.
The court partly agreed with PriceRunner but awarded a much lower amount than it had sought. It found that Google’s conduct caused financial harm and that it continued longer than Google claimed. However, the court ruled that PriceRunner filed some of its claims too late and denied compensation for losses beyond the period during which it found Google had continued the abuse.
Judge Linda Kullberg said, “In many ways, this is a complex and wide-ranging case, and although PriceRunner has not been entirely successful in its claim, the damages awarded are undoubtedly the largest ever ordered in a Swedish competition case.”
Rooted in Google’s 2017 EU antitrust case: The case stems from the European Commission’s 2017 Google Shopping decision, which found that Google had abused its dominant position in online search by giving preferential placement to its own comparison shopping service while pushing rival services lower in search results. In 2024, the European Union’s highest court upheld that decision, allowing affected companies to pursue damages claims without having to prove the antitrust violation again.
The ruling adds to a series of follow-on damages claims against Google across Europe. Last year, a German court ordered Google to pay about €465 million to price comparison site Idealo and €107 million to another platform, Producto. Similar lawsuits are pending in the UK, where companies including Kelkoo and Foundem are seeking damages, and in Italy, where Moltiply Group has filed a €2.97 billion claim.
Google to appeal; ruling could shape future claims: Google said it disagreed with the ruling and is considering an appeal. A company spokesperson said, “We don’t agree with the court’s decision; we are reviewing and will consider our legal options. The changes we made to shopping ads back in 2017 are working successfully, generating growth and jobs for hundreds of comparison shopping services who operate more than 1500 websites across Europe.”
The judgment adds to Google’s long-running antitrust challenges in Europe and could influence other companies seeking compensation over the same Google Shopping practices. The ruling also shows that…
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