Suit Could Raise Google's Liabilities in Price-Comparison Case
April 12 2019 - 4:36AM
Dow Jones News
By Bojan Pancevski
A German price-comparison portal has become the first major
company to sue Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC while invoking a 2017
European antitrust decision to fine the U.S. technology giant for
abusing its dominant position in the search-engine market.
If it succeeds, the litigation could spark similar actions in
Europe by other tech firms that have so far hesitated to take on
the Silicon Valley company.
In the suit filed in a Berlin court on Friday, Idealo Internet
GmbH, a leading price-comparison service that is majority-owned by
publisher Axel Springer SE, alleges that Google made it harder for
users of its search engine to find links to Idealo after the
American company started promoting its own price-comparison
offering, now called Google Shopping. Alphabet's European entity,
Google Ireland Ltd., is also targeted by the suit.
The two-year-old ruling invoked by Idealo led the European
Union's competition authority to fine the tech giant EUR2.42
billion ($2.72 billion) for what the EU said was prioritizing
Google's own offerings over those of rivals in search results. At
the time, EU Competition Commissioner Margarethe Vestager
encouraged companies to use the ruling as a basis to seek damages
against Google.
Google appealed that decision and said at the time it
"respectfully disagreed" with the ruling.
Idealo is seeking EUR500 million in damages from lost revenue
after Google allegedly altered its search results. The German
company also claims Google violated the 2017 decision by failing to
alter how it promotes its own services in search results even after
being fined.
Google didn't respond to a request for comment Friday
morning.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 12, 2019 04:21 ET (08:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024