PriceRunner, the Swedish price comparison company which is being bought by fintech Klarna, said it is suing Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary Google for around €2.1bn, claiming the search giant is abusing its dominant market position.
The legal action, which has been filed at the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm, follows a ruling by the European General Court in 2017 that Google had breached EU antitrust laws by manipulating search results in favour of their own comparison shopping services. It imposed a €2.4bn fine on the US search giant.
In November last year, Google lost an appeal against the fine.
Google was also accused in 2020 of abusing its market position and maintaining an illegal monopoly over internet searches by the US Department of Justice.
Claiming that Google's "violation is still ongoing", PriceRunner said it is seeking compensation "for the damage Google has caused us during many years".
PriceRunner said its lawsuit aims to make Google pay compensation for the profits that PriceRunner has lost in the UK since 2008, as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.
It said it expects the process to take several years and that it has secured external funding that is deemed to cover all litigation costs.
Axel Springer's price comparison shopping service Idealo sued Google in 2019 for €500mln.
”With financially strong owners, external funding and Europe’s leading experts on our team, we look forward to receiving compensation for our loss and to contributing to Google ending its illegal behaviour," PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl.
"Both European consumers and digital corporations suffer greater direct damage by these tech giants’ dominance than many would believe.”