United States: Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has won a major case against Google. A jury in the US found that the tech giant had turned its Android app store into an illegal monopoly.
Epic Games sued Google three years ago, accusing it of a monopoly over the distribution of apps and in-app billing. Hundreds of millions of people globally use the Google Play Store to download and install apps for smartphones.
In a statement, Google said that it will challenge the verdict. Mr. Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, remarked that, “Android and Google Play provide more choice and openness than any other major mobile platform.”
“The trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles. We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem,” Mr. White added.
Mr. Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, pointed out that the company will begin working on fixes in January. In the trial that lasted more than a month, lawyers for the two firms made their final arguments on the last day.
“Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts,” Mr. Sweeney wrote on social media platform X.
Epic noted in the lawsuit that Google “suppresses innovation and choice” through a “web of secretive, anticompetitive agreements”.
Prior to the commencement of the Epic trial, the tech giant had faced several anti-trust cases, settling similar claims from dating app Match.
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