A Swedish court has ordered Google to pay 14.3 billion Swedish kronor (about $1.5 billion) in damages plus interest to PriceRunner, a price comparison service now owned by Klarna. The ruling, issued by the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm, represents the largest competition damages ever awarded by a Swedish court. The decision was announced this week following a lawsuit filed in 2022.
PriceRunner's lawsuit alleged that Google illegally favoured its own price comparison service over rivals in search results, reducing PriceRunner's traffic and profits in the UK since 2008 and in Sweden and Denmark since 2013. The court found that Google's conduct caused financial harm and lasted longer than Google had claimed but awarded a lower amount than PriceRunner sought. Some claims were dismissed as filed too late, limiting compensation to the period of proven abuse, according to the court's ruling and Judge Linda Kullberg’s statement.
This case is rooted in the 2017 European Commission antitrust investigation into Google's search practices. The ruling underscores ongoing regulatory scrutiny of major tech companies in Europe over competition concerns. The damages awarded surpass previous Swedish competition cases, highlighting the financial risks for companies found to abuse dominant market positions. PriceRunner's parent company Klarna benefits from this legal victory in its competitive positioning against Google’s services.
Google has the option to appeal the decision, which could affect the timeline for enforcement. The court’s press release and ruling documents were made public this week, marking a significant development in European competition law enforcement against tech giants.