© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Fortnite recreation putting in on Android working system is seen on this illustration taken, Might 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Picture
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By Mike Scarcella and Greg Bensinger
(Reuters) -“Fortnite” maker Epic Video games has prevailed in an antitrust trial over Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google Play app market, Epic Chief Govt Tim Sweeney mentioned late on Monday, hours after the federal jury took up the case.
“Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts. The Court’s work on remedies will start in January,” Sweeney wrote in a publish on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
Spokespeople for Google and Epic didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Attorneys for the 2 firms made their remaining arguments earlier within the day, after greater than a month of trial in Epic’s lawsuit, which accuses Google of unlawfully scheming to make its Play retailer dominant over rival app shops.
The lawsuit, filed in 2020, additionally challenges the charge of as much as 30% that Google imposes on builders for in-app gross sales.
“The trial has shone a very bright light on what Google has done to impair the competition,” a lawyer for Epic, Gary Bornstein, instructed jurors earlier within the day.
Google “systematically blocks” different app shops on the corporate’s Play retailer, Bornstein mentioned. Cary, North Carolina-based Epic owns the favored Fortnite multiplayer shooter recreation.
Google has denied wrongdoing, arguing that it competes “intensely on price, quality, and security” in opposition to Apple (NASDAQ:)’s App Retailer.
A lawyer for Google, Jonathan Kravis, instructed jurors that “Google does not want to lose 60 million Android users to Apple every year.” Google lowered its charge construction to compete with Apple, Kravis mentioned.
“This is not the behavior of a monopolist,” he mentioned.
Google settled associated claims from relationship app maker Match earlier than the trial began. The tech big additionally settled associated antitrust claims by U.S. states and customers beneath phrases that haven’t been made public.
Epic lodged an identical antitrust case in opposition to Apple in 2020, however a U.S. choose largely dominated in favor of Apple in September 2021.
Epic has requested the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to revive key claims within the Apple case, and Apple is combating a part of a ruling for Epic that might require modifications to App Retailer guidelines.
