Google to Appeal Swedish Court’s Damages Award to Klarna

According to MLex, which first reported the planned appeal, Google intends to contest the July judgment issued by Sweden’s Patent and Market Court that found the company liable for harming PriceRunner through conduct linked to its comparison-shopping practices.

The Stockholm court earlier this month ordered Google to pay approximately 14.3 billion Swedish kronor (about $1.5 billion) in damages, plus interest, to PriceRunner. The award is considered the largest competition-related damages judgment issued by a Swedish court.

The dispute stems from allegations that Google used its dominant position in online search to favor its own comparison-shopping service over competing platforms. PriceRunner argued that the conduct diverted traffic away from rival services and caused significant financial harm across several European markets.

PriceRunner filed its lawsuit in 2022 after being acquired by Swedish fintech company Klarna. The company initially sought substantially higher compensation, claiming damages and accrued interest totaling tens of billions of kronor.

The Swedish court ruled that Google had caused competitive harm, although it awarded a lower amount than PriceRunner had requested and dismissed parts of the claim. The court found that some claims were time-barred and did not fully accept PriceRunner’s arguments regarding the duration and scale of the alleged damage.

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The litigation is closely connected to the European Commission’s landmark 2017 Google Shopping decision, in which EU antitrust regulators concluded that Google had abused its dominant position by systematically giving more favorable placement to its own comparison-shopping service in search results while demoting rival services. The Commission imposed a €2.42 billion fine on the company.

That regulatory decision was subsequently upheld in large part by the European Union’s courts, including a 2024 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that reinforced the Commission’s findings regarding Google’s conduct.

According to MLex, Google’s appeal will focus on challenging the Swedish court’s conclusions regarding liability and damages. Google has previously argued that it modified its shopping search practices following the European Commission’s decision and has maintained that competing comparison-shopping services have benefited from those changes.

In statements issued after the July ruling, Google said it disagreed with the judgment and was reviewing its legal options. The company has argued that its post-2017 changes generated growth opportunities for comparison-shopping services operating across Europe.

The case forms part of a broader wave of private damages litigation that has followed major European competition decisions against large technology companies. Several comparison-shopping businesses and digital platforms have pursued claims in national courts seeking compensation based on findings established by EU regulators.

Source: MLex