A couple of years after allegations, the Google vs. Epic Games and Match Group case is finally going for a trial on November 6th this year.
The jury date was set by a Northern District of California judge, where they hear and evaluate the accusations laid by Epic Games and Match Group against Google regarding its anti-competitive app store practices.
Google vs. Epic Games and Match Group
In 2020, Epic Games filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google for its unethical app store practices – like abusing its dominant status in the Android app distribution through Play Store and charging unfair fees from developers on every transaction made through their apps.
And a year later, Match Group – the owner of several dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid, etc. has also sued Google for similar allegations. Hearing this, Epic Games and Match Group consolidated their cases to form one strong lawsuit against Google and have been pursuing it ever since.
Now, an order from a Northern District of California judge schedules November 6th, 2023, as the date of trial, finally. Aside from this, Google is also facing a similar lawsuit from 39 attorneys general and a grand customer class action suit demanding $4.7 billion in damages!
Well, Google has long been defending these accusations – saying that charging 30% Play Store fees is important to invest and better the platform and secure users. And it also argues for providing freedom for users to download Android apps from alternate sources, like third-party websites or app stores. But again, this doesn’t help the community much as you think.
Third-party sources are often harder to find and install – when Google is strongly promoting its Play Store as the primary and only reliable Android app. And the Google Play Store coming default in every Android device makes alternatives mostly go unnoticed.
