According to a Reuters news agency report, the presiding judge said in a 27-page order that the plaintiffs had identified the legal elements of “collectiveness” and other factors for the formation of a class action lawsuit. A class action or class action is a type of lawsuit in which one of the parties is a group of people represented by one or more members of that group.
The class members are Google play store Individual consumers in 12 states, including Ohio, Michigan and Georgia, in addition to American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, said the report. They demanded $4.7 billion in damages.
What Google has to say
Google has denied the allegations and defended its business practices in the Play Store. “We evaluate the verdict and then examine our options,” a Google spokesman was quoted as saying.
Additionally, Google’s attorneys claimed the plaintiffs failed to show how they were harmed — an argument dismissed by the judge.
36 states are suing Google
In July this year, a group of 36 states and the District of Columbia sued Google, alleging that Google is abusing its market power over the Play Store and forcing aggressive terms on software developers. App developers claim they have problems with how Google tricked them into using its own system for in-app purchases and charging a 30% commission.
“Due to Google’s anti-competitive behavior google play The store’s market share — which is well over 90 percent — faces no credible threats, and market forces are unable to put pressure on its super-competitive commissions,” the complaint reads.
At the time, Google said the “lawsuit ignored choices Android and Google Play.”
“Android and Google Play offer openness and choice that other platforms simply don’t offer. This lawsuit isn’t about helping the little guy or protecting consumers. It’s about nurturing a handful of big app developers who want to take advantage of Google Play without paying for it,” Wilson White, Google’s senior director of public policy, said in a blog post.
Google also found that the claim that consumers and developers had no choice but to use Google Play was incorrect. “Choice has always been a core principle of Android. Device manufacturers and network operators can preinstall competing app stores alongside Google Play on their devices. In fact, most Android devices ship with two or more app stores pre-installed,” the executive added.
