Overview
- The Stockholm Patent and Market Court ruled in PriceRunner’s favor on Wednesday, July 1, finding Google unlawfully favoured its own comparison‑shopping service and caused harm to PriceRunner.
- The court set baseline damages at about 14.3 billion Swedish kronor, roughly $1.5 billion, while Klarna — which bought PriceRunner in 2022 — cites a company calculation including interest that brings the total to about $1.97 billion.
- Judges accepted that Google’s self‑preferencing reduced PriceRunner’s traffic and profits but rejected parts of the claim as time‑barred and denied compensation for some residual losses, so the award is smaller than PriceRunner sought.
- Google said it disagrees with the decision and is reviewing legal options, and any payment could be altered by appeals, sharing agreements with former PriceRunner shareholders and funders, and by taxes.
- The ruling applies the European Commission’s 2017 Google Shopping finding to a private claim and may encourage further follow‑on damages suits across Europe while leaving the final outcome uncertain for years.