Belgian start-up gets freezing of $83m in legal win over Google

Ireland has ordered the freezing of 76 million euros ($83 million) held by Google in Europe after a Belgian court backed a local start-up in a dispute with the US tech giant, court documents showed Wednesday.

Proxistore, a Belgian firm specialising in online advertisements, won a court battle last month after Google suddenly blocked its advertising campaigns in February.

Belgian judges ordered the US company to pay its much smaller European competitor 76 million euros -- one million for every hour its activities had been blocked.

But enforcing the order required the cooperation of the Irish authorities, as Google's European headquarters are based there.

Documents seen by AFP showed the Irish Department of Justice had ordered the precautionary blocking of the sum in Google's account -- a move it communicated to Proxistore's lawyers on Tuesday.

The money, held in a Dublin bank, can be transferred to Belgium only after Google has exhausted all appeals.

The cross-national nature of the operation, which saw the involvement of a EU body facilitating the settlement of cross-border disputes, was unprecedented, according to Proxistore's boss Bruno Van Boucq.

"This is a one-sided action and Proxistore's claims lack merit. We will vigorously defend ourselves," a Google spokesperson said.

Google has accused Proxistore of not paying its invoices on time, something the start-up denies.

The case stems from an intellectual property dispute initiated by Proxistore, which has patented tech allowing for online localised adverts, against Google in 2018.

Van Boucq claims Google's blocking of its campaigns in February came as part of a retaliatory "attempt to destroy" his company.