In a high-profile antitrust trial against Alphabet’s Google, which claimed the Play app store functioned as an illegal monopoly, “Fortnite” creator Epic Games has prevailed.
“The California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts after 4 weeks of detailed court testimony,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
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As per a court filing, the jury found in favour of Epic on all counts. The court will start deciding which remedies to apply in January.
Google declared that it would file an appeal. Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, stated via email that “we will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.”
After more than a month of trial, the attorneys for the two companies presented their closing arguments on Monday morning. Epic had accused Google of taking action to suppress competitors and of charging unjustifiably high fees to app developers—up to 30%.
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It claimed, among other things, that Google unlawfully linked its Play Store and billing service, requiring developers to use both for their apps to be listed in the store.
The decision represents a stunning setback for Google, which co-owns one of the largest app stores in the world with Apple. Should the verdict stand, it could completely alter the app store industry and grant developers greater control over how their apps are marketed and how much money they make.
Epic Games posted a statement on their website saying, “(Today’s verdict) proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation.”
Less than four hours prior, the federal judge presented the case to the jury, instructing them that a unanimous verdict was required.
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“The trial has shone a very bright light on what Google has done to impair the competition,” Epic’s attorney Gary Bornstein said earlier in the day to the jurors. He also claimed that Google “systematically blocks” other app stores on its Play store.
While claiming to compete “intensely on price, quality, and security” with Apple’s App Store, Google has denied any wrongdoing.
An attorney representing Google, Jonathan Kravis, informed the jury that “Google does not want to lose 60 million Android users to Apple every year.” According to Kravis, Google dropped its pricing structure to compete with Apple.
“This is not the behaviour of a monopolist,” he stated.
Before the trial began, Google resolved related claims from the maker of dating apps, Match. Additionally, the tech giant reached a confidential settlement with US states and consumers regarding related antitrust claims.
Epic filed a comparable antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, but in September 2021, a U.S. judge made a decision that largely favored Apple.
While Apple is opposing a portion of a ruling for Epic that would call for modifications to App Store policies, Epic has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resurrect important claims in the Apple case.
