PriceRunner, which was later acquired by Klarna, sued Google Sweden AB, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. in February 2022, seeking damages of the equivalent of around 64 billion Swedish kronor and 14 billion Swedish kronor in accrued interest. The Patent and Market Court has now ruled partly in PriceRunner’s favour.
“In many ways, this is a complex and wide-ranging case, and although PriceRunner has not been entirely successful in its claim, the damages awarded are undoubtedly the largest ever ordered in a Swedish competition case,” says Judge Linda Kullberg.
As early as June 2017, the European Commission ruled in the so-called Google Shopping case that Google had abused its dominant position in the general search market. The abuse consisted of Google placing and presenting its own price comparison service on its general search results page in a more favourable manner than those of its competitors. Traffic from Google’s general search results page has consequently decreased for competitors’ price comparison services, whilst it has increased for Google’s. The abuse began in January 2008 in the United Kingdom and in November 2013 in Sweden and Denmark, which are the markets for which PriceRunner has claimed damages.
In its statement of claim, PriceRunner alleged that Google’s abuse continued even after the European Commission’s decision, until the end of 2023. According to Google, the abuse ceased in September 2017. Google has further argued that PriceRunner has not suffered any damage at all.
PriceRunner has now been successful in its claim against Google insofar as Google’s abuse continued for longer than Google had claimed, and that the abuse caused PriceRunner harm. However, part of the claim is deemed to have been brought too late, and PriceRunner will not receive compensation for ongoing harm during the period after the abuse is alleged to have ceased. For the period for which PriceRunner is awarded compensation – almost 15 years in the United Kingdom and just over ten years in Sweden and Denmark – the damages awarded are lower than those claimed by PriceRunner. The court has ordered Google to pay just over 1 billion Swedish kronor, 675 million Danish kroner and 950 million British pounds. In addition, Google must pay accrued interest amounting to approximately 400 million Swedish kronor, 250 million Danish kronor and 300 million British pounds.