Expert: "Victory Not Guaranteed"
...Enforcement Also an Issue
According to a report by Bloomberg on May 12 (local time), Google is facing damages claims of at least 12 billion euros (approximately 18.87 trillion won) from dozens of price comparison websites across the European Union (EU).
Bloomberg identified 12 ongoing civil lawsuits in seven European countries, and the combined amount of the nine cases with disclosed figures exceeds 12 billion euros. Italy's Trovaprezzi has filed a lawsuit for 2.97 billion euros, Sweden's PriceRunner for 2.1 billion euros, and the UK's Kelkoo for 1.4 billion euros. These price comparison websites allege that Google stole their customers.
In 2017, the European Commission fined Google 2.4 billion euros for illegally using its dominance in the search market to give its own shopping service an advantage. A series of lawsuits followed, but progress was slow for years as Google appealed the Commission's decision. Last year, however, a court finalized the Commission's determination that Google had violated antitrust laws. As a result, plaintiffs in the EU no longer need to prove Google's abuse of market dominance in court, and many lawsuits have started to proceed in earnest.
At the end of next month, a London court is set to hear a 1 billion pound lawsuit filed by the UK website Kelkoo and the now-defunct Foundem. In September, oral arguments will be held at the Amsterdam court in the Netherlands for a lawsuit filed by Compare Group. Bloomberg also reported that several other lawsuits are scheduled.
New lawsuits continue to be filed. According to litigation specialist firm LitFin, a 900 million euro lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of the now-defunct German website Preisroboter and Portugal's QuantoCusta. Last week, Italy's Moltiply Group announced that it had notified Google to pay 2.97 billion euros in damages for losses suffered by its price comparison website Trovaprezzi from 2010 to 2017.
Some plaintiffs have begun to expand the scale of their lawsuits and bring in external litigation funding firms. Albrecht von Sonntag, co-founder of Idealo, raised the existing compensation claim from 500 million euros to 3.3 billion euros last month, stating, "The internet cannot and should not be dominated by monopolistic companies that harm consumers, fair competition, and the European economy."
Bloomberg explained that these lawsuits, which have surged in recent years, mark a new phase in Google's legal battles in Europe. If the plaintiffs win, more companies may take legal action against Google. With the US Department of Justice seeking to break up Google's advertising and search browser businesses, these lawsuits further increase Google's legal burdens.
Google maintains that the series of civil lawsuits filed in Europe are unfounded. The company states that it does not discriminate between its shopping service and those of competitors, and that more than 1,550 price comparison websites in Europe are currently using the ad display format for price comparison sites introduced in 2017. Google also criticized the lawsuits as being brought by companies seeking financial compensation rather than investing in their own products.
However, Bloomberg pointed out that although the fines imposed by authorities have been finalized, this does not guarantee a clear victory in civil lawsuits. Plaintiffs must prove that Google's actions were the cause of their revenue losses. Christian Kersting, a law professor at the University of Dusseldorf, said that companies must prove that the losses were not due to market fluctuations or poor business strategies, adding, "This will take a long time and the situation will become very complicated."
Enforcement is also an issue. Even if companies win, if Google refuses to comply, US courts would have to intervene. Bloomberg noted that this could provoke anger from the White House, especially as former US President Donald Trump has criticized European regulators for unfairly targeting American tech companies.
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