Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, December 12 (Xinhua) after three years of legal disputes, Fortnite developer Epic Games finally won a historic victory in an antitrust lawsuit with Google. The jury just unanimously ruled that Google had a monopoly in the Google Play App Store and Google Play Billing, an in-app payment service, and abused that position to the detriment of Epic Games.

The jury unanimously agreed on all questions, including:

Google has a monopoly in the Android app distribution market and the intra-app payment service market.

Google has implemented anti-competitive behavior in these markets.

Epic has been damaged by Google's actions.

There is an illegal binding relationship between the Google Play App Store and the Google Play Billing payment service.

Its distribution agreements, Project Hug's dealings with game developers and deals with OEM are also anti-competitive.

It was a historic victory because a similar lawsuit against Apple by Epic failed two years ago. At the time, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that the lawsuit had nothing to do with the application.

But Epic vs. Google, by contrast, focuses on secret revenue-sharing agreements with smartphone makers and big game developers that Google executives believe are aimed at suppressing rival app stores. The evidence also suggests that Google is very concerned about Epic competition, and that, unlike the Apple case, the case is decided by a jury.

It should be noted that it is not clear what Epic actually won and Judge James Donato will decide on appropriate remedial measures. Instead of asking for damages, Epic wants the court to order Google to allow all app developers to freely create their own app stores and payment systems on Android. At present, it is not clear whether the judge will approve this request and how.

Judge Donato has said he will not approve the anti-circumvention clause required by Epic. Gary Bornstein, a lawyer for Epic, said on November 28 that the clause was designed to ensure that Google could not reintroduce the same problem through other creative solutions.

Judge Donato also said he had no intention of deciding how much Google should charge for its products.

Although Epic did not ask for compensation, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic would earn hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars if Epic no longer had to pay Google fees.

Google is likely to appeal the case, and CTOnews.com will update the report in a timely manner.

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