A German price-comparison portal has turn a initial vital association to sue Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC while invoking a 2017 European antitrust preference to excellent a U.S. record hulk for abusing a widespread position in a search-engine market.
If it succeeds, a lawsuit could hint identical actions in Europe by other tech firms that have so distant hesitated to take on a Silicon Valley company.
In a fit filed in a Berlin justice on Friday, Idealo Internet GmbH, a heading price-comparison use that is majority-owned by publisher Axel Springer SPR 0.28% SE, alleges that Google
GOOGL, +0.26%
done it harder for users of a hunt engine to find links to Idealo after a American association started compelling a possess price-comparison offering, now called Google Shopping. Alphabet’s European entity, Google Ireland Ltd., is also targeted by a suit.
The two-year-old statute invoked by Idealo led a European Union’s foe management to excellent a tech hulk €2.42 billion ($2.72 billion) for what a EU pronounced was prioritizing Google’s possess offerings over those of rivals in hunt results. At a time, EU Competition Commissioner Margarethe Vestager speedy companies to use a statute as a basement to find indemnification opposite Google.
Google appealed that preference and pronounced during a time it “respectfully disagreed” with a ruling.
An stretched chronicle of this news appears on WSJ.com.
Popular on WSJ.com:
Fossil justification of new tellurian class found in Philippines
WikiLeaks owner arrested, charged with computer-hacking swindling
Want news about Europe delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch’s giveaway Europe Daily newsletter. Sign adult here.
We Want to
Hear from You
Join a conversation
