Report from TechCrunch
In Brief – Epic Games has settled its legal dispute with Samsung Electronics and will drop claims that the device company conspired with Google to maintain a monopoly over Android app distribution. The app developer’s federal lawsuit accused Google and Samsung of engaging in anticompetitive practices, building on issues raised in Epic’s successful antitrust complaint against Google in which a jury found that the Android developer had unlawfully monopolized Android app distribution and in-app billing services. Epic’s claims against Samsung focused on the company’s “Auto Blocker” feature that prevented users from installing apps from sources outside the Google Play Store and Samsung’s own app store. This feature was enabled by default on all new Samsung phones, which Epic argued reinforced Google’s dominance and limited the reach of third-party app stores like Epic’s own. The app developer’s CEO said that the phone maker had addressed Epic’s concerns, although no specifics were provided.
Context – Epic Games filed antitrust suits against both Apple and Google in 2020 alleging that their 30% commissions were monopoly rents. In their initial trials, Apple largely prevailed while Google lost. It struck many observers as odd that the “closed” Apple ecosystem with a larger market share was on the right side of US antitrust law while the more open Android was not, but Google’s very complicated regime of rules, contracts, and revenue-sharing deals, especially with device makers, proved problematic. The same web of practices was a big factor in Google’s antitrust loss to the US Department of Justice regarding its search service. Google also faced a jury with the public mood decidedly not pro-Big Tech, while Apple had a bench trial. But in the end, both digital giants appear to have lost. The same federal judge who sided with Apple on Epic’s antitrust charges has ordered the company to stop charging any fees on app developers who process payments themselves based on California’s unfair competition law. Both companies are now facing similar demands in Europe, Japan, South Korea and other markets.