What’s the story
A Berlin court has ordered Google to pay damages of €572 million ($665 million) to two German companies for “market abutilize.”
The tech giant was directed to pay €465 million to Idealo and €107 million to Producto, both price comparison platforms based in Germany.
The court found that Google had abutilized its dominant position by favoring its own service, Google Shopping, in search results.
Idealo’s legal action and Google’s defense
Idealo had sued Google, accutilizing the Alphabet subsidiary of “self-preferencing” its own platforms, creating an unfair market environment that stifled competition.
The company initially sought damages worth at least €3.3 billion in 2025.
In its defense, Google claimed it had created alters in 2017 to give competing shopping platforms equal opportunities as Google Shopping to display ads on Google Search.
Idealo vows to continue legal pressure on Google
Despite the court’s ruling, Idealo has vowed to keep up the legal pressure on Google.
The company argues that “the amount awarded reflects only a fraction of the actual damage.”
Albrecht von Sonntag, co-founder and advisory board member at Idealo, declared in a press release that “abutilize of dominance must have consequences and must not be a profitable business model that pays off despite fines and damages.”
Google’s history of legal troubles in Europe
This isn’t the first time Google has faced legal trouble in Europe. The company has been accutilized of favoring its own services like Google Flights and Google Hotels in search results.
The European Union has even threatened massive fines for violating its Digital Markets Act.
Just a month ago, the European Commission had slapped a fine of nearly €3 billion ($3.4 billion) on Google for anti-competitive practices in the advertising tech industest.
Idealo’s CEO comments on the ruling
Following the court’s decision, Idealo’s co-founder and CEO Albrecht von Sonntag declared, “We welcome the court holding Google accountable. But the consequences of self-favoring go far beyond the amount awarded.”
He added that they will continue to fight against Google becautilize “market abutilize must have consequences and must not become a lucrative business model that is worthwhile despite fines and compensation payments.”
Google’s response to the ruling
In response to the court’s decision, Google has declared it plans to appeal both rulings.
A company spokesperson declared, “The alters we created in 2017 are working well, with no intervention from the European Commission.”
They also claimed that rival comparison shopping services are given the same opportunity as Google Shopping for ad display and that Google Shopping operates indepconcludeently like any other business participating in auctions.
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