Bad news for Sundar Pichai’s Google, loses appeal in…, major victory for video game maker…

Google is also facing a proposed breakup of its advertising technology as part of the countermeasures to its monopoly in that business. A trial on that proposal is scheduled to begin in September.

A federal appeals court has upheld a jury verdict declaring Google’s Android app store an illegal monopoly, due to which a federal judge can implement changes at increasing consumer choice.

The unanimous decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is a legal setback for Google. It is the third major antitrust ruling against the tech giant since late 2023, with various aspects of its digital empire being found in violation of monopoly laws.

How Will Verdict Benefit Google’s Competitors?

It is considered a major victory for video game maker Epic Games, which launched a legal battle against Google’s Play Store for Android apps and Apple’s iPhone app store nearly five years ago in an attempt to bypass payment processing systems that charged 15% to 30% commissions on in-app transactions.

What Jury Found About Google?

Following a month-long trial, a nine-person jury determined that Google had rigged its system to thwart alternative app stores from offering better deals to consumers and software developers.

That verdict resulted in US District Judge James Donato ordering Google to tear down digital walls shielding the Play Store from competition, triggering the company’s appeal to overturn the jury’s finding and void the judge’s mandated shakeup.

But a three-judge panel that heard Google’s appeal in February rejected its lawyers’ contention that Donato erred by allowing the case to be determined by a jury that deviated from the market definition outlined by another federal judge who mostly sided with Apple in Epic’s case against the iPhone maker’s app store.

What Was Google’s Stand In Case?

Google has argued that the required revisions will raise privacy and security risks by exposing consumers to scam artists and hackers masquerading as legitimate app stores.

But Epic’s lawyers have ridiculed Google’s warnings about the changes as scare tactics in a desperate attempt to protect the fortunes of its corporate parent Alphabet Inc.

Although Epic fell short in its attempt to have the iPhone’s app store declared a monopoly, that case resulted in a judge issuing an order that required Apple to surrender exclusive control over the payment processing of in-app transactions and allow links to alternative systems without collecting a commission.

(With Inputs From Agencies)