Google has reached a tentative agreement with 36 states and Washington, D.C., that sued the company last year for allegedly abusing its market power in the Android app ecosystem.
Similar to the Apple vs. Epic Games lawsuit, the lawsuit against Google argued that the tech giant abuses its control over the Play Store, and forces developers to pay a 300 percent commission on sales, in addition to stifling competition.
According to Bloomberg, the settlement was disclosed in a court filing on Wednesday, September 5th. It’s worth noting that the trial for the lawsuit was scheduled for November. If the settlement is approved, it would resolve one of the many antitrust challenges that Google faces around the world, and prevent the November trial from taking place. “If the judge rejects the settlement for any reason, according to the filing, both sides will be ‘returned to their respective litigation positions,'” according to Bloomberg.
The terms of the deal have not been made public yet, but they could be revealed at an October 12th hearing.
If the case gets settled, it will avoid a trial in which more than 21 million users sought damages as part of the lawsuit, claiming that they were overcharged in PlayStore.
Additionally, not everyone is happy with the outcome. Epic Games is not part of the settlement and plans to continue its own lawsuit against Google.
Epic Games isn't a party to the proposed Google Play settlement with the States Attorneys General.
We're fighting for consumer and developer freedom to do business directly, free of monopoly stores, monopoly payment processors, and monopoly taxes.https://t.co/6hagYKLWPg
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 6, 2023
Sweeney tweeted that he would only settle with Google if the company ended its “payments monopoly” and did not impose a “Google Tax” on third-party transactions.
Epic Games’ trial against Google is set for November 6th.
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