Fortnite maker Epic Games win in the US Courts against Google could have ramifications for the tech giant’s ongoing antitrust case in India. On Monday night, Google lost an antitrust lawsuit filed by video game maker Epic Games, with a US jury finding the tech giant’s mobile-phone app store is an illegal monopoly.
Rohan Verma, CEO and Executive Director of Map My India, told businessline, “One after the other, global regulators are finding that Google has monopolised the ecosystem with its playstore. Causing harm to consumers and app developers worldwide. The fact that the jury took mere hours to deliberate is a clear repudiation against Google’s app store practices.”
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In deliberations which took only a few hours, the jury in a San Francisco court unanimously ruled that Google has monopoly power in the Android app distribution markets and in-app billing services which led to anticompetitive practices in those markets.
This case, filed in the San Francisco court, was being watched keenly worldwide and is in line with the global push for antitrust regulations against big tech companies such as Google, Apple and Meta.
Tussle with CCI
In a similar case, the Competition Commission of India levied a fine of ₹936 crore on Google for abusing its dominance in the playstore ecosystem in October 2022.
Subsequently, Google has appealed the CCI order in the National Company Law Tribunal and the Supreme Court. The final hearing on this matter is set to happen soon, after the NCLAT deferred the hearing from November 28 to a later date which has not been disclosed yet.
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In its order, the CCI held that making access to Play Store, for app developers, dependent on mandatory usage of Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for paid apps and in-app purchases constitutes an imposition of an unfair condition on app developers, among other observations.
Experts believe that the San Francisco jury’s decision will bear weight against Google’s appeal in Indian courts.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst, Founder & CEO of Greyhound Research, added, “any ruling of this order will have bearing on cases of this nature being heard across the world.”
