Epic Games wins the game against Google. Three hours of deliberation were enough for a San Francisco jury to find the technology giant guilty of taking advantage of developers and the public in the Android store. The verdict came after a four-week federal trial. The judicial process, however, began three years ago, when manufacturers of the popular game Fortnite They filed a lawsuit for the commissions that Google takes for transactions in its virtual game download store. The case could reduce the margin that technology companies have to squeeze profits in their application markets.
The case began in 2020, when Epic went to court to rebel against the state of things. The company looked for alternatives to avoid the commissions that Google takes every time a user downloads a game in the Android store. These range between 15% and 30% of transactions, an amount similar to what Apple charges its users. The company led by Sundar Pichai defends these amounts, as it assures that they are necessary after having invested more than 40,000 million dollars in the development of software that allows it to compete with the iPhone store. Epic developers modified the Fortnite app so that the money stayed in their hands. This caused Google and Apple to ban Epic from their digital stores for violating policies.
One of the results of that fight came this Monday. The jury, made up of nine people, ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Judge James Donato must now determine the steps that Google must follow to qualify its dominant position towards developers and users of the game store. This will be discussed in a series of court hearings taking place in a San Francisco court in the second week of January 2024. Those hearings will help determine the true cost to the tech giant, which could run into the billions of dollars. . Its main business, revenue from digital advertising tied to its Internet search engine, will not be affected by Donato's ruling.
“Victory over Google!”, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of the video game company, wrote this Monday in X. The executive of the company, valued at around 31 billion, assured that the verdict means good news for “developers and consumers around the world.” Sweeney was present this Monday at the closing of the jury, where the parties gave their final arguments for two hours.
The ruling is a blow to Google, which faces another antitrust trial over its gold mine, the Internet search engine. The company had tried to prevent the outcome of this case from being in the hands of a jury, something that was rejected by Judge Donato. Apple, who was also sued by Epic, won in a trial that took place in 2021. Then, a court in San Ramon, California, ordered Tim Cook's company to relax some measures to encourage competition, but rejected the arguments that it was an illegal monopoly.
Google plans to appeal the verdict. “Android and Google Play provide more options and openness than any other mobile platform on the market,” said Wilson White, the company's vice president in charge of Public Policy and Government. “We will continue to defend the Android business model,” he added.
You can follow EL PAÍS Technology in Facebook and x or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
The Five Day Agenda
The most important economic quotes of the day, with the keys and context to understand their scope.
RECEIVE IT IN YOUR EMAIL
#Google #guilty #benefiting #abusive #commissions #Android #store