Google to pay German price comparison platform around $538 million in damages

The Berlin II Regional Court has ordered Google to pay approximately €465 million (around $538 million) in damages to price comparison portal Idealo. The Axel Springer subsidiary (case no. 16 O 195/19 Kart (2)) had filed suit, alleging that Google had abused its dominant market position as a search engine. The judges found Google guilty of systematically favoring its own price comparison service (Google Shopping), thereby harming Idealo. In a parallel case (case no. 16 O 275/24), the Berlin II Regional Court ordered Google to pay an additional €107 million (around $124 million) to Producto GmbH (Testberichte.de). However, the court rejected Idealo's request to access Google's business records.

The rulings are a costly aftershock of the 2017 EU Commission decision. At the time, EU competition authorities fined Google €2.42 billion ($2.82 billion) for precisely this abuse of market power. The judges in Berlin made it clear that they were bound by the precedent set by the 2017 decision. What is unprecedented, however, is that a Big Tech company is being held liable in a German civil court for the first time for the consequences of an antitrust violation of this magnitude.

Such cases demonstrate that, in addition to EU authorities, private companies can now also successfully sue for damages. However, the amounts awarded are far below Idealo's claims (€3.3 billion). Hence, both sides have already declared their intention to appeal. A Google spokesperson stated that the company would appeal because the claims were "not valid". In sum, the case is expected to drag on for more years.