App sales fees: ‘Fortnite’ developer wins monopoly lawsuit against Google

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A jury in the Californian city of San Francisco ruled on Monday that Google had formed an illegal monopoly with its app marketplace Play Store and its payment system. “Victory over Google!” wrote Epic boss Tim Sweeney on the short message service X, formerly Twitter.

The court must now decide what consequences will flow from the jury’s verdict. Google immediately announced that it would appeal the ruling.

Epic Games took legal action against Google in 2020. The stumbling block was the approximately 30 percent fee that Google withholds from app sales. The ‘Fortnite’ developer accused Google of an illegal monopoly.

Epic Games also sued the technology company Apple in 2020. In this case, a federal judge in California ruled in 2021 that Apple had to open its App Store payment system to developers. At the same time, the judge rejected Epic Games’ accusation that Apple had a monopoly. The trial against Google only started in early November.

The operating systems of Apple and Google, iOS and Android, run on the majority of all smartphones. Epic Games acquired the two companies in 2020 and released an update with its own payment system that bypasses Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. The two tech companies subsequently pulled the plug on the ‘Fortnite’ mobile app, and Epic Games took the dispute to court.

Unlike iPhone manufacturer Apple, Google gives Android users access to other platforms to download apps and games. However, Epic Games states that the system is actually hardly more open than Apple’s iOS. One way Google secures its market power is through contracts with other companies.

Apple and Google repeatedly argue that the 30 percent commission on app sales is in line with the market. The revenue generated is necessary to ensure the security of the app marketplaces and payments. (SDA)

Source: Blick