Google fights to keep EU compliance findings out of UK trial
Google has moved to exclude the European Commission's recent Digital Markets Act non-compliance decision from an ongoing UK antitrust damages trial. The company argues that the DMA's ex-ante regulatory framework is separate from the traditional competition law claims being litigated in the UK court case regarding Google's search self-preferencing.
Key Takeaways
- Google seeks to exclude EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) findings from a multibillion-pound UK lawsuit brought by Kelkoo, Foundem, and Connexity.
- The European Commission recently fined Google €890 million, including €460 million specifically for search self-preferencing that favored its own shopping services.
- UK claimants allege Google's search practices systematically diverted traffic, while Google maintains its search evolution was designed to improve consumer experience.
- The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) must decide if the Commission's current DMA ruling on 'gatekeeper' behavior is relevant to historical competition law claims.
Why It Matters
The outcome determines if claimants can use modern regulatory findings to bypass the burden of proving historical anti-competitive effects. If the UK court admits the EU's DMA decision, it creates a precedent where 'ex-ante' regulatory breaches assist 'ex-post' damages litigation, significantly increasing the liability risk for dominant digital platforms. For the streaming and search ecosystem, this case tests the legal firewall between new EU 'gatekeeper' rules and traditional antitrust lawsuits. Watch for a specific UK tribunal ruling on the admissibility of these findings by September 2026.
Additional Context
The procedural battle in London coincides with intensifying enforcement across Europe as regulators move from general antitrust investigations to the prescriptive requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Per the European Commission in July 2026, Google was ordered to end self-preferencing across vertical search results, including hotels and transport, marking the first time the company has been formally fined under the DMA framework. This decision concluded a non-compliance investigation opened in March 2024, which found Google's efforts to open search real estate to rivals were insufficient to satisfy the new law's non-discrimination standards. While the UK is no longer an EU member state, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has historically maintained a complex relationship with European Commission rulings. Per CAT proceedings in July 2025, the tribunal previously issued a 755-recital judgment determining exactly which parts of a separate 2017 EU Google Shopping decision were binding on the UK court. The current conflict centers on whether the newest DMA findings—which address Google's modern search results page—can be applied retroactively to calculate damages for domestic rivals like Kelkoo and Ciao. Parallel litigation across Europe suggests a trend toward higher payouts for search competitors. Per Reuters in July 2026, a Berlin court recently awarded the shopping service Idealo €465 million in damages, the largest such award in German history for an antitrust violation. Meanwhile, the UK tribunal has seen consolidation in the shopping damages field; per Courthouse News in July 2026, lead claimant Foundem reached a confidential settlement with Google, leaving remaining plaintiffs to contest the significance of the EU’s billion-dollar DMA penalty in their closing arguments.
Read full article at pymnts.com
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