iTWire - Epic Games prevails in anti-trust suit against Google
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Tuesday, 12 December 2023 18:35
Epic Games prevails in anti-trust suit against Google Featured
By Sam Varghese
Fortnite creator Epic Games has won an anti-trust case against Google which it filed three years ago, claiming that the app store policies of the latter violated anti-trust laws both at the US federal level and in California state.
On Monday, the nine-person jury unanimously found for Epic in a trial that began on 6 November.
The jury found that Google had violated the law by having a monopoly in the app distribution market for Android smartphone and for in-app billing services worldwide apart from China.
It ruled that the search giant's deals with developers on app distribution, with gaming companies including Activision and agreements with smartphone makers for pre-installation of its apps violated competition law.
The main argument used by Google to deflect Epic's claims was that it had to compete against Apple"s App Store — which is more popular in the US — and hence could not be accused of being a monopoly for Android phones.
Two years ago, Epic, in large part, lost a similar trial against Apple, which was decided by a judge. Both companies are making a bid to approach the US Supreme Court for an appeal.
Justice James Donato of the US District Court for the Northern District of California will decide next year on the penalties to be imposed on Google.
In a statement, Wilson White, a Google vice-president of government affairs, said the company would appeal against the verdict.
White said the trial had shown clearly "that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles".
In a blog post, Epic said the verdict "is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation.
"Over the course of the trial we saw evidence that Google was willing to pay billions of dollars to stifle alternative app stores by paying developers to abandon their own store efforts and direct distribution plans, and offering highly lucrative agreements with device manufacturers in exchange for excluding competing app stores.
"These deals were meant to cement Google’s dominance as the only app store in town – and it worked. More than 95% of apps are distributed through the Play Store on Android.
"Google imposes a 30% tax on developers simply because they have prevented any viable competitors from emerging to offer better deals. And Google executives acknowledged in Court that their offer of a 26% rate on third party payment options is a fake choice for developers.
"This is, of course, what we know. From the chief executive down, Google employees willfully re-directed sensitive conversations to chat, knowing that their contents would be deleted forever.
"The evidence presented in this case demonstrates the urgent need for legislation and regulations that address Apple and Google strangleholds over smartphones, including with promising legislation in progress right now with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the UK and the Digital Markets Act in the EU."
Google is fighting another anti-trust case at the moment, one which is said to be the biggest such case against a company since Microsoft was hauled before the courts in the late 1990s.
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