GRIP platform lets you sue Google more easily

You know things are getting out of hand when people start making platforms to sue you more easily. That’s what’s currently going on with Google in Europe, as a new platform called GRIP is launched.

GRIP, standing for Google Redress & Integrity Platform is created for those who believe to be affected by Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior in Europe. According to a Reuters report, it was created by U.S. law firm and class action specialist Hausfeld.

It said the platform would build on the European Commission’s April charge sheet, which accuses Google of unfairly promoting its own shopping service to the disadvantage of rivals.

"GRIP offers corporations, consumers and other entities harmed by Google’s anti-competitive business practices in Europe a mechanism to evaluate their potential claims", Michael Hausfeld, chairman of Hausfeld, said in a statement.

Google declined to comment.

Public affairs consultancy Avisa Partners, which is helping French Internet search firm 1plusV in its EU complaint against Google, will jointly manage the platform.

Google is currently fighting the same battle on multiple fronts, where various companies and state institutions claim the search engine giant is abusing its dominant position in the search engine market to promote its own services, at the expense of the competition.

European Commission is currently looking into the matter on the Old Continent, while Google claims the accusations are incorrect and unfounded. The same issue is currently unfolding in India.

Antitrust regulators in the US wrapped up a probe into Google’s practices in 2013 without requiring that the company make any major changes to how it ranks websites.

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