Vermont joins multi-state antitrust suit against Google
Modified: 7/9/2021 9:46:04 PM
Vermont has joined 35 other states and Washington, D.C., in an antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Utah, North Carolina, New York and Tennessee are the lead plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on Wednesday. It accuses Google of using its market position to unlawfully restrict competition with the Google Play app store and of driving up app prices.
“Google has harmed consumers by inflating the price of apps through its anticompetitive practices,” Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said in a statement. “We are proud to be standing with our fellow states to bring an end to this abuse.”
by Bhaswati Guha Majumder - Jul 9, 2021 07:32 AM
Google Play Store. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Snapshot
An antitrust lawsuit filed by a group of thirty American states and the District of Columbia against Google alleges that the company has monopolised the distribution of apps on Android smartphones, blocking competition through contracts, technical barriers and other means.
A group of thirty American states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit on 7 July against Google while alleging that the Alphabet-owned company has an illegal monopoly with its Play Store app. It alleges that the company has monopolised the distribution of apps on Android smartphones, blocking competition through contracts, technical barriers and other means, according to a lawsuit filed by the state of Utah in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
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Fortnite can sue Apple in Australia for illegally wielding control over its iPhones and iPads, the Federal Court has found.
Epic Games originally sued Apple in November 2020, alleging Appleâs tight control of its App Store amounted to breaches of Australian Consumer Law and the Competition and Consumer Act because Apple illegally âforces Epic (and other app developers) to only use Appleâs App Store to distribute its software applications ⦠and to only use Appleâs payment platform for purchases of their in-app content by iOS device usersâ.
Epicâs game Fortnite will now be at the centre of a case in the Federal Court.Â
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Google LLC has been slapped with yet another antitrust lawsuit one that it promptly called “meritless.”
This time the search giant faces a coalition of state attorneys general that argue the company is abusing its control of the Android app store to charge unfair commissions to developers.
The lawsuit, filed today by 36 states and Washington D.C. in California federal court, challenges Google’s policy of charging a 30% commission on all sales made through apps that were downloaded via the Google Play Store.
The case echoes a similar lawsuit filed by games developer Epic Games Inc. in August 2020, which saw its flagship title “Fortnite” pulled from Google Play after offering in-app payments that skirted Google’s payments ecosystem. Epic argued in its complaint against Google that the company’s app store policies have raised prices for consumers online.