Google Faces a New Wave of Lawsuits in Europe Worth Billions of Dollars — Reuters
The American corporation Google may face a large-scale legal challenge from competitors in Europe following a fine imposed by the European Commission for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Companies are seeking compensation for potential losses, and the total amount of claims could potentially reach $10 billion.
Lawyers believe this decision could make it easier for competitors to prove violations in court and serve as the basis for new lawsuits.
Google has already faced lawsuits from smaller competitors in various European countries. Several lawyers and financial experts working on such cases told Reuters about this.
The British price comparison website Kelkoo is seeking billions of pounds from Google in several lawsuits seeking damages following the EU’s ruling on Google’s shopping service. The company stated that the latest EU fines could increase the number of such cases.
“We expect this to have some impact on these cases, as the DMA ruling shows that Google still favors its own services,” Kelkoo CEO Richard Stables told Reuters. According to him, this decision has also given other companies more grounds to take legal action.
Matej Pardo, chief operating officer of LitFin, a company that finances litigation, also noted a possible increase in the number of cases. The company supports two groups that have filed lawsuits against Google in Amsterdam over the company’s commercial auctions. The total amount claimed in these cases exceeds $1 billion.
“Many such claims are already being filed, and likely even more are in the works,” he said.
In November, a Berlin court awarded Idealo 465 million euros ($528.9 million) in damages. This is the largest amount ever awarded by a German court in an antitrust case.
In the PriceRunner case, a Stockholm court ordered Google in July to pay approximately $1.97 billion, including interest. Klarna welcomed this ruling, but the company does not expect to recover the funds anytime soon.
“We can expect the appeal proceedings to last more than a year, and possibly even years,” said Klarna’s attorney Pontus Sherp.
Google stated that it strongly disagrees with these claims. “We strongly disagree with these lawsuits, which are being filed by companies seeking payouts instead of investing in their own products,” a Google spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
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