Case Brief: Google Can Pay PriceRunner. What It Cannot Ignore Is a Repeatable Damages Model

Europe’s Shopping cases are starting to test more than damages. They are testing how much of Google’s retail-search model can survive.

Everyone is going to read the PriceRunner judgment as a story about $1.5 billion in damages.

It is better understood as a test of whether Google can keep treating each courtroom loss involving its control of digital distribution as an isolated event.

The timing helps explain why this case matters. One day after the PriceRunner decision, the European Union…