The Foundem and Others v Google Trial 22 Jun to 27 Jul 2026
The following is intended as a useful resource for anyone following or interested in the upcoming Trial in the Foundem (Infederation Ltd), Kelkoo, and Ciao vs Google cases, which is due to be heard before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) from 22 June to 27 July 2026.
Introduction
It was Foundem’s February 2010 competition complaint that triggered the European Commission’s seven-year investigation into Google’s search manipulation practices, which culminated in the June 2017 Prohibition Decision and record-breaking $2.7 billion fine.[1] In June 2012, Foundem filed a civil claim for damages against Google, but these proceedings were delayed pending the outcome of the European Commission’s investigation and Google’s two unsuccessful appeals of the ensuing Decision.
In June this year, Foundem’s civil claim against Google will finally come to trial before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in London. As of March 2024, Foundem’s claim has been jointly case managed with Kelkoo and Ciao.
Check back for further information and updates in the coming days and weeks.
General Resources
Foundem-Specific Resources
It is clear that Google is once again intending to portray Foundem’s innovative, multi-domain vertical search service as some kind of low-quality, borderline spam site, just as it did to the European Commission (and anyone else who would listen) during the Commission’s seven-year investigation into the anti-competitive practices raised by our February 2010 competition complaint.
History shows that the European Commission examined these baseless accusations and resoundingly rejected them in the form of a Prohibition Decision and £2.1 billion fine. As the Commission found, Google abused its dominance of general search by artificially demoting competing CSSs to the nether regions of Google’s search results pages while artificially promoting its own CSS at or near the top of page 1. And, since Google’s failed Appeals, this clear deviation from competition on the merits has now been confirmed and upheld by both the General Court and Court of Justice of the European Union.
Yet here we are. So, despite our reluctance to re-engage with a battle that, in our view, Google has already fought and lost, the following presentations and documents provide some relevant information and historical context:
Examples of some of the positive user feedback that Foundem received over the years, despite its near invisibility in Google’s search results
As above, a historical comparison of Foundem’s and Google’s CSSs. Also includes a brief summary of the configurable parametrised search technology underpinning Foundem’s service
[1] Foundem was also the first to raise Google’s double-sided search manipulation practices with the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (May 2010), the Competition Commission of India (April 2011), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (August 2011), and the Canadian Competition Bureau (September 2012).