Comparison portal Idealo demands 3.3 billion euros in damages from Google
In 2019, Idealo filed a lawsuit against Google and demanded high damages. The proceedings were then suspended to wait for the ECJ. Now Idealo is following up.
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The price comparison portal Idealo has extended a lawsuit against Google for the alleged abuse of a dominant market position and is now demanding at least 3.3 billion euros in damages. The company, which belongs to the Axel Springer media group, announced this and explained that the sum is made up of the claim for damages amounting to 2.69 billion euros itself and interest due. The company is also demanding "extensive information about the traffic, sales and profits generated by Google in connection with Google's product and price comparison service in Germany".
Lawsuit filed six years ago
According to the company, the demand is intended to highlight the damage to competition, consumers and e-commerce caused by the US company's "abusive behavior". Specifically, Idealo accuses Google of systematically favoring its own shopping offers in the search engine of the same name and thus distorting the market. The European Court of Justice provided clarity in this regard in the fall, and the ruling must now be followed by a corresponding decision in Germany. National courts are bound by the ruling of the ECJ.
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On 10 September, the ECJ ruled that Google had abused its dominant position on several national markets for online search services in order to favor its own price comparison service "Google Shopping". A fine of 2.4 billion euros was imposed for this. Idealo had already filed a lawsuit with the Berlin Regional Court in 2019 and demanded half a billion euros in damages at the time. The proceedings were then suspended for several years to await the ECJ's ruling, Idealo now writes. The regional court should now comply with this and impose significantly higher damages.
(mho)
