Starting from Monday this week, Google's influence in the digital economy is facing another major legal test, targeting Google's role as a "gatekeeper" on billions of mobile devices.
The jury heard the opening statement from Fortrite game developer Epic Games regarding Google's use of its dominant position to extract excess profits from application developers, as well as Google's response to these allegations. This is the second round of attacks launched by Epic against two major mobile software suppliers, following the 2021 court dispute between Epic Games and Apple.
This trial is expected to continue until December, adding pressure to Google, which is already plagued by litigation; Google is still in a landmark antitrust lawsuit challenging its search engine dominance. These two lawsuits both target agreements reached between Google and Android phone manufacturers, which is the most widely used mobile software system in the world.
Google also faces lawsuits from the US Department of Justice against its advertising technology business, which is expected to be heard in court next year. Google also denies these allegations.
Google's parent company Alphabet receives relatively little revenue from the Play Store, but the app store is also an important component of the package of services authorized to Android phone manufacturers and is the main entrance to Google's search engine. Play Store is also the target of Epic.
In a previous trial, Epic convinced the judge that Apple should relax the restrictions on the payment methods accepted by application developers, but most of Epic's other claims were not supported by the judge. The lawsuit against Google involves similar areas and also raises new charges, claiming that the technology giant spent $1 billion on an acquisition deal to stifle competition from gaming companies such as Activision Blizzard.
Epic's acting lawyer, from law firm Cravath, Swaine& Moore's Gary Bornstein stated on Monday that Google has adopted a "bribe or block" strategy to prevent competition. He believes that this behavior makes users have fewer options to download applications on Android phones than on desktop computers.
Why should this computer be treated differently? "Bornstein asked the jury, holding up a smartphone. The answer to this question is power
From law firm Munger Tolles& Glenn Pomerantz, a Google lawyer for Olson, said that the Android system and Play Store encourage competition on mobile devices in terms of design choices.
Pomerantz said in his court statement, "Every brick and tile that makes up the entire system is meant to promote competition, because Android and iPhone compete in this way
In a blog article published before the trial, Google stated that Epic's reasons for suing Google were "more insufficient" compared to the reasons for suing Apple. This article argues that Android provides developers with more options. Google claims that the deal with a group of gaming companies has stimulated developers to develop applications for the Play Store.
The fact is, Epic only wants to reap all the benefits offered by Android and Google Play, without paying for them, "wrote Wilson White, Google's Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy, in a blog post