
Swedish shopping comparison service PriceRunner has announced it is suing Google for 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion) after a European court ruled that Google breached EU antitrust laws . Last November, the General Court of the European Union upheld a decision to fine Google a record 2.42 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for promoting its own comparison shopping services over compared to its rivals.
“We seek…compensation for the harm Google has caused us over many years, but also see this lawsuit as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s 14-year competition law violation. and still do today,” said Mikael Lindahl, CEO of PriceRunner.
PriceRunner claimed that Google was in a “monopoly-like position” in Europe, adding that it believed it had still not complied with the European Commission’s ruling and was “abusing its dominant position”. As such, he claimed that traffic and profits are diverted away from himself and other shopping services, and his offerings are superior to those of other services, harming consumers.
“Given that the breach is still ongoing and the amount of damages increases daily, we expect the final damages amount of the lawsuit to be significantly higher,” he wrote.
Google lost its first appeal against the EU fine, but it launched another last month, saying “we believe there are areas that require legal clarification from the Court of Justice European”. Engadget contacted Google to comment on the PriceRunner lawsuit.
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