Epic Games accuses Google of stifling competition, CEOs of two companies will testify

News on November 6. For two months, Google has been fighting in court in Washington, DC with the U.S. Department of Justice, which accused the company of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising to suppress competitors. The high-profile antitrust case could reshape the world's most popular search engine. Now, Google faces another legal battle closer to home.

On Monday local time in the United States, Epic Games, the developer of the popular game "Fortnite", will appear in San Francisco federal court to begin a month-long antitrust lawsuit against Google. Epic Games is expected to accuse Google of violating state and federal antitrust laws and its founding principle of "don't be evil" by exercising its monopoly over app developers in the Google Play Store on Android phones. . Epic Games wrote in its lawsuit, first filed in 2020: "Google has reduced its motto to almost an afterthought and is leveraging its scale in a series of games it already has a monopoly on. The market is doing bad things to competitors, innovators, customers and users.” The video game developer had tried to bypass Google Play Store charges by letting “Fortnite” players pay Epic Games directly for in-app items. commission, which prompted Google to ban the game from its app store.

If Epic Games wins the case, Google may be forced to change its app store rules

to allow other companies to offer competing app stores and make it easier for developers to avoid Google's in-app purchases Draw a share. Google typically charges users a 15% app subscription fee and a 30% commission on apps downloaded from the App Store. Google has previously argued that 99% of developers qualify for in-app purchase rates of 15% or less, while large app developers like Epic Games must pay 30%. The antitrust lawsuit underscores how the company is defending itself on multiple fronts as regulators and rivals try to reduce Google's influence on the Internet. Part of a broader effort by tech regulators in recent years to curb the growing power of tech giants, the lawsuits could distract Google as it tries to focus on its ongoing battle with Microsoft, OpenAI and others. Competing in the emerging field of generative artificial intelligence.

Paul Swanson, an antitrust lawyer at Holland & Hart, said: "It's hard to imagine Google emerging from the challenges next year unscathed. At one point, it was involved in so many cases. One of them will work against you." Even so, Epic Games faces an uphill battle. The company made similar accusations against Apple during a 2021 court hearing. However, a federal judge rejected most of Epic Games' request.

The difference in this trial is that Epic Games believes it has a chance of success. First, the case will be decided by a jury rather than a judge. Epic Games will also submit what it sees as conclusive evidence that Google forces phone makers like Samsung to pre-install and promote its apps on their devices. The company will argue that Google's project, called Project Hug, bribed some developers to keep using Google's payment system. Epic Games is also facing a countersuit from Google, which is seeking damages.

Swanson said a jury trial could be beneficial to Epic Games. He explained: "The risk to Google is much greater because they are facing a group of ordinary people evaluating their actions rather than judges evaluating their actions through a century of antitrust precedent."

Over time,

antitrust accusations against the Google Play Store have been reduced to a one-on-one confrontation between Google and Epic Games. Dozens of state attorneys general sued Google in 2021 on similar grounds, and the company reached preliminary settlements with those states in September. On Tuesday, Google also announced a settlement with dating app company Match Group. Match Group has also previously joined Epic Games in its lawsuit.

Wilson White, Google's vice president of public policy, said in a press conference: "Epic Games wants to get all the benefits that Android and the Google Play Store have to offer without having to pay. This is The lawsuit would upend a business model that lowers prices and increases choice."

In 2020, Epic Games encouraged its customers to avoid the tech giants and pay the company directly for their work in breakout game Fortnite The fees paid to purchase props have angered Google and Apple. This was against both companies' policies, so they removed Fortnite from the app stores.

Epic Games responded with a lawsuit and a PR blitz against Apple. Fortnite is still available on Android phones because Google allows a practice called sideloading, which is downloading apps from the internet outside of a phone's app store.

Epic Games might argue that Google is making life difficult for both Android phone users and app developers in a variety of ways. Downloading is a painstaking process that most phone users struggle with, meaning Google can maintain de facto control over the apps on their phones through App Store restrictions. Samsung also offers an app store on its Android devices.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai (Sundar Pichai) and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney (Tim Sweeney) are both expected to testify.

Last week, Pichai testified in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google. The Justice Department and attorneys general from dozens of states have accused Google of undermining competition by paying Apple, Samsung and other partners billions of dollars a year to make its search engine the default option in the companies' web browsers.

Google argued that it got the default spot because it had a better product and its competitors didn't invest in search capabilities.

In addition to Pichai’s appearance, the case also includes testimony from Google employees and rival executives, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The case could be decided in 2024.

A federal judge in Virginia is considering a separate Justice Department lawsuit accusing Google of illegally abusing its monopoly power over online advertising technology. A trial in the case could begin as early as next year.

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