Epic’s complaint alleges that Google has additionally struck deals with developers such as Activision to prevent them from creating their own app stores, further restricting competition. During the trial, Epic’s lawyers also claimed that Google negotiated special agreements with services such as Spotify to keep their business, though never with Epic. Government prosecutors in that trial questioned Pichai in late October, forcing the CEO to justify Google’s multibillion-dollar partnerships with companies like Apple that allow it to be the default search engine on devices.Įpic’s lawyer’s have argued that Google’s Play store – which takes a 15% cut of subscription-based app purchases made on Android, or a 30% cut for developers that make more than $1m a year in revenue from those purchases – has created a system in which developers must pay off Google or be cut out of the market. The company is currently defending itself in a separate antitrust trial brought by the justice department, which alleges that Google illegally built a monopoly over internet search and web advertising. The jury trial, which began last week in a San Francisco federal court, is yet another recent high-profile legal battle for Google as it faces challenges to its longstanding business models and market dominance. It is also counter-suing Epic for breach of contract. Google has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that its dominance over Android downloads is the result of successful business practices and competition with Apple’s app store. The previous day, a top economist for Alphabet revealed the figure while on the witness stand, which Google had sought to keep confidential.Įpic is alleging Google “illegally monopolized the Android app distribution market” to stifle consumer choice, extract fees from developers and stop rival companies from launching their own app stores. Pichai also confirmed that Google pays Apple a 36% revenue share to remain Safari’s default search engine, between $18bn and $20bn every year. The judge has demanded Google’s chief legal officer come to court and explain the company’s policies Thursday, per the Verge. Donato is displeased with the tech giant after Epic demonstrated that Google employees deleted chats either unwittingly or on purpose after Epic placed an evidentiary hold on Google’s records. Judge James Donato asked whether it was Google’s policy to allow individual employees to determine which conversations should be preserved as evidence via settings that preserved chat histories. Pichai said he himself followed instructions to retain emails, documents and chat logs. His testimony covered the “sideloading” of apps – the downloading of an app from a source other than the official Google Play store – and the Play store’s fees.Įpic’s attorney asked Pichai about Google’s policy of not retaining chat histories, which has been a matter of contention throughout the trial. Android is unprecedented, there’s never been a free and open operating system that’s reached two and a half billion users,” Pichai said. “Our mission is to provide access to information, to make it universally accessible and useful.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |