GOOGLE SHOPPING

GOOGLE SHOPPING

Owners of price comparison websites can now claim damages up to EUR 2.1 billion after European Commission recognized Google's anticompetitive behavior.

The EU General Court

decision and eligibility

The EU General Court decision opened a window of opportunity for affected parties to claim their compensation for the damage caused by Google’s anti-competitive behavior. This implies that any price comparison website from the following 13 EU countries is eligible for a sizable compensation: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom (former EU member) and Norway. For potential clients based in other EU countries LitFin can also offer support on the individual case basis.

About the case

In 2017 the European Commission recognized Google’s abuse of its dominant position on the EU online market by essentially promoting its own price comparison services in their general results pages, thus damaging the competing individual websites that were providing the same type of solution. In November 2021 the European General Court dismissed most of Google’s and Alphabet’s (parent company) action (case T-612/17) aimed against the Commission’s decision and imposed a penalty on both Alphabet and Google amassing EUR 2.42 billion. The Court recognised the anticompetitive behavior that harmed competition and ruled out any objective justification of Google’s activities. Now, Google and Alphabet are filing an appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as a second attempt to overrun the penalty.

Follow-on case

As a reaction to the initial accusations, Google enabled price-comparing websites to purchase the top results space on the general results pages, thus turning its competitors to customers, essentially forcing them to change their business model. The Court dismissed Google’s claims that this change improved the situation, considering its activities still anti-competitive.

LitFin has extensive experience in cases like Wirecard, MasterCard and Visa, truck manufacturers’ cartel and many more. We have proven to be successful and have an impeccable track record. LitFin is currently working on gathering claims of affected parties, providing the most reliable litigation financing service with a team of professional lawyers – Stek Advocaten from the Netherlands, who have years of experience in the field of competition law and are recognised by reputable legal reviews like Chambers Global, Global Competition Review and Legal 500. Conversely, we are taking our case to the Netherlands, one of the best jurisdictions in Europe for dealing with competition law breaches. Additionally, our team of experts includes Shivaun Raff – co-founder and CEO of Foundem, who was involved in the case from the very beginning and is aware of all the intricate details.

Submit your ticket

If you join our class action, you will increase your chances of getting your compensation by being represented by the best legal team, being a part of the group which will increase the pressure on the defendant, being led through the complicated process of litigation and finally, by letting us take care of all the costs.

These are the reasons why joining us bares more benefits as opposed to single handedly pursuing this case. For more information on eligibility, funding process or if you want to schedule a call with our experts, please fill in this form below and LitFin will get back to you shortly.