A view of the Google logo on a makeshift house during CES 2023, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 6, 2023. Portal/Steve Marcus/File Photo ACKNOWLEDGE RIGHTS
Sept 6 (Portal) – Alphabet’s (gogetL.o) Google on Tuesday tentatively settled a class action lawsuit alleging its U.S. Play Store violated U.S. federal antitrust rules by charging its customers excessive prices , a court filing says.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
In the lawsuit brought by more than 30 states and representing 21 million consumers, plaintiffs argued that without Google’s alleged monopoly, consumers might have spent less on apps and had more options.
The parties to the settlement, including attorneys for the Utah attorney general who leads the group of states, called for the cancellation of a trial scheduled for Nov. 6.
Google, which has denied wrongdoing, declined to comment on the proposed settlement. Attorneys for the consumer plaintiffs declined to comment on the proposed settlement, while an attorney for the plaintiffs, which includes the states and the District of Columbia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The settlement requires the approval of the court.
Google is facing similar lawsuits alleging that the company made huge profit margins on its Play Store by using illegal tactics to maintain monopolies in the sales of Android apps and in-app products.
They argue that Google has unlawfully mandated that some apps use the company’s payment tools, earning Google up to 30% of digital goods sales
Epic Games, which filed such a lawsuit, is not a party to the proposed settlement with Google Play, founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“If Google ends its payments monopoly without imposing a Google tax on third-party transactions, we will come to an agreement and be Google’s friend in their new era,” he said, adding that if the agreement passes the “Google tax.” The company would “continue to fight”.
Match Group (MTCH.O) has also filed suit. A spokesman for Match declined to comment.
The case involves an antitrust litigation against the Google Play Store, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-md-02981.
Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru and Mike Scarcella; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh; Editing by Jamie Freed and Edwina Gibbs
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