Brussels, 01/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The consultancy firm specialising in European affairs, Avisa, and the American law firm Hausfeld told the press, in Brussels on Tuesday 1 September, that they were joining forces to launch a platform to give victims of “Google's anti-competitive practices” the opportunity to seek legal redress.
The platform, known as 'Grip' ('Google Redress and Integrity Platform'), will be managed by Avisa and the victims will be represented by Hausfeld. The two firms are highly familiar with the dossier. Hausfeld represents the price comparison website Foundem, a plaintiff in the dossier the Commission opened several years ago into Google, in its claims for damages in the United Kingdom. Avisa has been assisting the French start-up 1plusV, one of the first to have turned to the Commission.
Although the stated objective is to “create a community of victims”, group actions appear to have been ruled out for the time being. Maybe it will come to that if several similar cases come to light, but “in our idea, every case is different”, as Hausfeld lawyer Laurent Geelhand explained.
The range of cases they will take on will be very broad: online searches, e-commerce and mapping, but also the 'intellectual property' ('copyright') dimension. Jacques Lafitte, one of the founders of Avisa, also referred to the fact that the Commission sent businesses online questionnaires related to copyright and Google in July (see EUROPE 11373).
The aim is to focus on Europe but, unsurprisingly, or by pure coincidence, it is mainly German and French companies which have already approached the initiative. Many plaintiffs are indeed German, and senior political figures in both of these countries have already personally called upon the Commission, in writing, to take action on this dossier.
Project Grip also hopes to benefit from the directive adopted last year aiming to make it easier for citizens and businesses to take legal action seeking compensation for damages and losses they have suffered due to infringements of competition laws (cartels, abuse of dominant position and similar) (see EUROPE 11042).
The European Commission has not specifically commented on this initiative. It has only just received Google's response to the statement of objections it sent the company in April of this year. Given the pace at which the Commission works, “I would suspect we will see a Commission decision (on Google) in the first part of 2016”, said Laurent Geelhand. This, he added, would give the two companies time to prepare for battle. (Elodie Lamer)