The agreement frees Google owner from a lawsuit with 21 million Americans, but the case does not end – Business

a the alphabet (Owner Google) He partially exonerated himself from the lawsuit to go to trial in NovemberThe company has been accused of monopolistic practices with the policies it maintains in place in its Play Store app store.

a The grassroots action brings together plaintiffs from 30 states in North AmericaThis is done through the public defenders who represent them More than 21 million complaintsclaiming so They could spend less on apps and have more choice options, if the company did not have monopolistic policies.

At the heart of the process is… The old version of fees charged to app creators for using payment systems and features of the Play Store ecosystem And the restrictions imposed by companies such as Google and Apple on programmers when using alternative systems. a Apple has also been the target of lawsuits in different countries due to the same type of policy, the latest being implemented in the United Kingdom.

After this increased pressure. Two companies have made some concessionsbut they also tried Maintaining at all costs the business model that has been so profitable over the years. Programmers pay a fee of 30% of the value of app sales to their stores.

In this specific case, Alphabet appears to have been able to avoid court review of the company’s competitive practices through an agreementthe terms of which are not yet known.

Neither the company nor the lawyers in the case wanted to provide details about the agreement yet, according to what Reuters reported, but they said that The trial, which was already scheduled for November 6, will be requested to be cancelled.

However, this The agreement is not the end of the matter for Alphabet. a Epic Gameswhich filed a similar lawsuit against Apple, has already announced that it will not join the agreement with owner Google and that it continues to fight the case in court.

This was confirmed by Tim Sweeney, the company’s CEO, in a post on Twitter
“a Epic Games is not part of Google Play’s proposed agreement with state attorneys general“, highlighted in the post. “We Fight for the freedom of consumers and programmers To do business directly, without store monopolies, payment processors or taxes.

Remember that The Apple vs Epic Games case has been going on in court since 2020. It started after Epic’s decision, which included a link to its own store in the Fortnite app on the App Store. a Apple kicked the game from the store and Epic went to court.

Hey The first round of this legal battle ended with a court decision in 2021Which did not satisfy any of the companies but who Requires Apple to accept references in iPhone Store apps to other payment systems Alternatives for you. Same decision Epic was fined For non-compliance with the App Store rules and He refused to classify the company as a monopoly. to Two companies were involved in legal maneuvers To be able to change the first court decision. The case has since moved to the Supreme Court.