Epic Games wins legal battle against Google for monopoly – 12/12/2023 – Market

Epic Games, creator of the game “Fortnite”, won this Monday (11) a legal battle in the United States against Google, with a jury deciding that the technology giant exercises illegal monopolistic control over its Android app store .

The gaming company sued Google and Apple in 2020 for abusing the conditions of their respective stores for selling applications and other digital content for mobile devices with iOS or Android operating systems.

Google and Apple receive a percentage of all purchases made through their application stores, Google Play and Apple Store, which has generated complaints from developers, who consider it a “fee” that the two technology giants charge companies.

The jury took just a few hours to rule against Google, finding that the company had employed several illegal strategies to maintain its monopoly on the app store for Android devices.

“Victory over Google! After four weeks of court testimony, the California jury ruled against the Google Play monopoly on all counts,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said on Twitter.

The judge in the case will have to decide how Google will compensate Epic Games for the damages caused.

Google stated that it will appeal the decision and that the case will continue for months or years.

“We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain firmly committed to our users, partners and the Android ecosystem as a whole,” said Wilson White, vice president of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google.

70% of the world’s smartphones run on the Android operating system.