Google sued by PriceRunner for $2.4 bn over manipulation of search results

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is being sued by Nordic price comparison provider PriceRunner AB for about 22 billion kronor ($2.4 billion) at Stockholm’s patent and market court. The lawsuit follows the conclusion of a legal ruling in the European Union that established Google has breached antitrust laws by manipulating search results in favor of its own comparison-shopping services, PriceRunner said in an emailed statement Monday. “This is also a matter of survival for many European entrepreneurial companies and job opportunities within tech,” said Mikael Lindahl, chief executive officer of PriceRunner.

Google spokesperson Emily Clarke told Bloomberg that the company is looking forward to defending its case in court. “PriceRunner chose not to use shopping ads on Google, so may not have seen the same successes that others have,” Clarke said in emailed comments.

Stockholm-based PriceRunner, which has agreed to be bought by Klarna Bank AB, expects that the final damages of the lawsuit will be “significantly higher” because the violation is still ongoing, according to the statement.

Last month, the U.S. tech giant said it had filed a challenge against the ruling at the EU Court of Justice “because we feel there are areas that require legal clarification” from the bloc’s top judges. 

Dutch antitrust watchdog studying whether Apple has now complied with order

NETHERLANDS-APPLE-ANTITRUST:Dutch antitrust watchdog studying whether Apple has now complied with order

Reuters Business Feb 7, 2022, 17:01

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) The Dutch antitrust watchdog on Monday said it is studying whether a new round of changes Apple has announced to its App Store terms and conditions in the Netherlands will bring it into compliance with national law.

The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has been levying weekly fines of 5 million euros ($5.7 million) on Apple since Jan. 24, saying the company had failed to open its app store to allow dating app providers in the Netherlands to use alternative payment methods.

Apple is under pressure in many countries over the commissions it charges on in-app purchases, with the U.S. Senate approving a bill on Thursday that would bar Apple and Google from requiring users to use their payment systems.

Apple on Jan. 15 asserted it had complied with the Dutch regulator's December order covering only dating apps like Match Group's Tinder, but the regulator responded that Apple hadn't actually yet made changes -- it had just indicated it would.

On Feb. 3, Apple made a further statement on its blog, apparently laying out how developers could now implement the alternative payment methods.

One important footnote was that Apple said it would still charge a 27% commission on in-app payments it does not process, only slightly below the 30% it currently charges. The company said that is "consistent with the ACM order".

A spokesperson for the ACM said the agency was studying Apple's changes and would respond soon.

Apple is separately appealing the ACM's original December decision, arguing that alternative payment systems pose a security risk to users.

($1 = 0.8757 euros)