A federal jury in California sided with Fortnite maker Epic Games in its antitrust lawsuit against Google’s Android app store, saying the store violated antitrust laws and illegally shielded it from competition. It was recognized that it was done.
A San Diego jury reached a unanimous verdict after nearly three hours of deliberations Monday night, following a weeks-long trial over Google’s Play Store payment system. The Play Store is used by hundreds of millions of people to download smartphone apps that use Google’s Play Store. android software.
The jury found in favor of Epic Games on all 11 questions it was asked to assess, including the existence of an antitrust market, Google’s anticompetitive conduct, and whether Google’s antitrust violations harmed Epic Games. .
The ruling comes after the game developer accused Google of shielding the Play Store from competition to keep Epic Games and Google raking in billions of dollars in profits, the Associated Press reported. This marks the end of a three-year legal battle. According to the newswire, Google collects fees ranging from 15% to 30% on digital purchases within its apps.
Google claims the fee will help recoup the more than $40 billion it spent developing Android software, which it began offering to manufacturers in 2007 to compete with Apple’s iPhone, according to the Associated Press. are doing.
Google attorney Jonathan Kravis told the court that Android phones can’t compete with the iPhone “without a good App Store,” and that “competition between App Stores is tied to competition between phones.” said, the Associated Press reported.
In a similar lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Apple in 2021, a judge ruled in favor of Apple, saying the tech giant was not engaged in an illegal monopoly, but rather illegal anti-competitive conduct. handed down a judgment. Like Google, Apple also collects fees for in-app payments.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney celebrated the victory by writing on X (formerly Twitter), “Victory against Google!” The company said in a memo that the ruling is “a victory for all app developers and consumers around the world.”
“that [the verdict] “This proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and abuse its monopoly to charge exorbitant fees, stifle competition, and reduce innovation,” Sweeney wrote. Ta.
Monday’s ruling could have far-reaching implications for app store rules in the future, giving developers more control over the distribution of their apps and the profits they collect from them, Reuters reported. This could also cause Google to lose billions of dollars in annual profits from his Play Store fees.
In a statement shared with The Associated Press, Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said the company plans to appeal the ruling. The Hill has reached out to Google for further comment.
U.S. District Judge James Donato is scheduled to rule on relief in the case in January.
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