Google-Epic Games case: Jury set to start weighing evidence in antitrust trial
- Epic Games has alleged that Google has been exploiting its control of the Android software to protect a lucrative payment system within its Play Store for distributing Android apps
The jury in San Francisco is set to start weighing the evidence on Monday in a three-year-old antitrust case filed by Epic Games against Google.
The lawyers on the opposing sides of the trial will present their closing arguments.
The four-week trial included testimony from both Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.
Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, has alleged that Google has been exploiting its control of the Android software to protect a lucrative payment system within its Play Store for distributing Android apps.
Google earns billions of dollars annually in profit by collecting 15-30% commission from digital transactions completed within apps.
Through evidence Epic has asserted that Google welcomes competition as a pretense, citing the hundreds of billions of dollars it has doled out to companies such as game maker Activision Blizzard to discourage them from opening rival app stores.
The video game maker has been contending that Google's Play Store is a de facto monopoly that drives up prices for consumers and discourages app makers from creating new products.
While Google has been defending itself by drawing a picture of a broad and fiercely competitive market that includes Apple's iPhone app store.
The Washington trial is centred on the US Justice Department's allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance of the online search market, partly by paying billions of dollars to be the automatic place to field queries placed on personal computers and mobile devices.
Evidence presented in both San Francisco and Washington revealed that Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 for its search to be the default choice on a variety of web browsers and smartphones, with the bulk of the money going to Apple.
Earlier, Epic had also filed a similar lawsuit against Apple and its iPhone app store. That lawsuit resulted in a month-long trial in 2021, with Epic losing on all its key claims.
(With inputs from AP)
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First Published:11 Dec 2023, 04:42 PM IST
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