[gtirloni]

This is pretty absurd to me.

I'm not a lawyer so don't quote me on this, but here in Brazil, it seems the losing side has to pay the winning side's lawyers and other expenses. It's not clear cut how much will be paid and there are different rates but the message seems to be clear: don't sue willy-nilly because there will be consequences, so make sure you have a case.

[iudqnolq]

Imagine you have an 80% chance of winning but Google will spend millions of dollars defending against your lawsuit. Is suing them worth the risk of a judgement that will ruin your life in perpetuity?

That's why in the US the losing side only has to pay if they committed some kind of misconduct.

There's a fair argument for both systems though, I just want to point out the American system isn't clearly absurd.

Edit: To a certain extent you can control your own costs. You might find a lawyer willing to donate their time, or you might find a scrappy team willing to take on Google for less money. But Google will always hire a top firm with high billing.

[wkat4242]

You can get it back from them, the judge would normally assign all costs to the losing party. However actually getting it can be difficult as the court doesn't bother to help with that.