The US appeals court has been asked by tech giant Google to reject the monopoly verdict. The order of the court deals with asking the tech giant to reconstruct its app store policies.
This is as per a Reuters report. One of the tech giant's argument was that the trial judge made a legal error and is "mistaken".
This, in turn, unjustly favored the plaintiff, "Fortnite" creator Epic Games. Meanwhile, as per Epic Games, the tech giant is relying on “flawed arguments".
To add to it, Epic Games also highlighted that the meritless appeal is a desperate effort by Google to avoid complying with the decision of the jury. Google, on its part, has highlighted that a dramatic re-design would end up hurting both the tech giant's consumers and app developers.
The issue relates to Epic Games suing Google in 2020. The argument by the company was that Google Play Store has an illegal monopoly. The lawsuit mentioned that the tech giant made sure that apps were published on its Play Store. This in turn makes it a monopoly.
Following this, in October, the US court ruled that Google should open Android for third-party Play Stores. Media reports also indicate that the judge also ruled that Google should also remove restrictions relating to making it mandatory for apps to use its own billing system.
Interestingly, this is an argument that has gained attention in India as well. Start-up lobby Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) filed a complaint against the tech giant to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegedly practicing anti-competitive practices with regards to online advertising. The company also alleged that Google was abusing its position by forcing companies to use its billing payment system. “Basically, Google is abusing its monopoly, forcing companies to use its payment system,” said Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of the Chennai-based Matrimony.com in 2023, to the media.
Meanwhile, Google on its part mentioned that the Epic Games verdict would put customer privacy at risk. “As we have already stated, these changes would put consumers’ privacy and security at risk, make it harder for developers to promote their apps, and reduce competition on devices,” the tech giant said in a blog post.
The tech giant further added, “The decision fails to take into account that Android is an open platform and developers have always had many options in how to distribute their apps.”
Now, Google’s order is pending review in the 9th Circuit. As per Reuters, the oral argument will be heard on February 3.
