14 DAY TRIAL // DataCell, the company that used to handle donations for WikiLeaks, is preparing to sue Visa and MasterCard and file a complaint against them with EU regulators alleging violations of competition laws.
In December 2010 Visa and MasteCard ordered a Danish payment processing company called Teller to stop providing services for Iceland-based DataCell.
The action didn't only prevent DataCell from processing payments for WikiLeaks, but also its other customers that weren't connected to the secrets spilling organizations.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to Wikileaks which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension. This is not about the brand of Visa, this is about politics and Visa should not be involved in this," said Andreas Fink, CEO of DataCell at the time.
The company asked Teller to review its case which the Danish payment processor did. Nothing that would warrant a suspension was found, but Visa and MasterCard asked the Danish firm not to restore service for DataCell.
"On June 9th a the law firms Bender von Haller Dragested in Denmark and Reykjavik Law Firm in Iceland acting on behalf of DataCell and WikiLeaks told the companies that if the blockade is not removed they will be litigated in Denmark and a request for prosecution will be filed with the EU Commission.
"Visa Europe, MasterCard Europe, and Teller (a Danish company licensed to process transactions on behalf of the card companies) are the subjects of the complaint," a press release from WikiLeaks reads.
The two organizations claim that Visa, MasterCard and Teller violated both Danish merchant laws and EU competition rules by abusing their market dominance. Together the two major credit card companies control over 95 of the market in Europe.
Since European Union legislation also allows filing lawsuits in individual states, WikiLeaks and DataCell plan to launch similar actions in other jurisdictions as well.