Epic Games wins in antitrust court fight over Google’s Play Store
Google had violated antitrust laws to extract fees and limit competition from Epic Games and other developers on its Play mobile app store, in a case that could rewrite the rules on how thousands of businesses make money on Google's smartphone operating system, Android.
After deliberating for a little more than three hours, the nine-person federal jury sided with Epic Games on all 11 questions in a monthlong trial that was the latest turn in a three-year legal battle.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteNorthwestern UniversityKellogg Post Graduate Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Senior Management ProgrammeVisitIIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in FinTech, Banking & Applied Risk ManagementVisit The jury in San Francisco found that Epic, maker of the hit game Fortnite, proved that Google had maintained a monopoly in the smartphone app store market and engaged in anticompetitive conduct that harmed the video game maker.
Google could be forced to alter its Play Store rules, allowing other companies to offer competing app stores and making it easier for developers to avoid the cut it collects from in-app purchases. And the verdict could imperil the company's ability to collect commissions from app store purchases.
Judge James Donato will decide the remedies needed to address Google's conduct early next year.
Throughout the trial, Google's lawyers and executives had argued that it competed against Apple's App Store, which is more popular in the United States, making it impossible to operate an Android monopoly.
The verdict provided a lift to Epic's yearslong quest to weaken the power that Google and Apple have over the mobile app ecosystem, and
