4 hours Ago By Ratul Maitra
Explainer Google has sought the overturning of a previous court verdict that directed it to implement reforms within its Google Play Store ecosystem, during a hearing held before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, on February 3. The company argued that the earlier order suffered from a “legal error”, unfairly benefitting plaintiff, and Fortnite maker, Epic Games in the process, as per a Reuters report . Presenting its case before the court, Google’s attorney Jessica Ellsworth highlighted that the company’s Play Store engages in a vigorous competition with the rival Apple App Store, adding that the Play Store, the App Store and all competing Android stores “were all in the same area of effective competition, they all compete for mobile gaming transactions.
” She further argued that the earlier judgement, passed by US District Court Judge James Donato, unfairly barred Google from more broadly making the same point. The legal representative noted that the in-app transactions are “the large majority of transactions in the Play Store, just as they are in the App Store”, further claiming that Epic’s complaints against Google and Apple tried to ‘silo’ the two operating systems “into two different markets for two different complaints.” Referencing the Epic v Apple case The argument by Google’s legal representative stretched back to the Epic v Apple case that ran parallel to the Epic v Google case – one in which Epic mostly lost.
As per reports , Ellsworth argued before the court that Judge Donato, during the 2023 hearing of the Epic v Google case, allowed Epic a “do-over”, which allowed the latter a chance to define the market in a way that excluded the Apple App Store’s existence as a rival. “You can’t just lose an issue that was fully litigated the first time (in the Apple case) and then pretend it didn’t happen,” Ellsworth said. Meanwhile, Epic’s legal counsel urged the court to reject Google’s arguments, claiming that the Android app marketplace has seen anti-competitive behaviour for “the better part of a decade”.
He further observed that it was an attempt by the company to keep intact a system that benefits Google from charging commissions ranging anywhere between 15-35% on in-app purchases on apps and software downloaded from the Play Store. Also Read: Support our journalism: For You.
