Why did Epic Games lose the lawsuit against Apple but win against Google?



The U.S. District Court of San Francisco, California, filed a lawsuit against Epic Games, the developer of the popular game Fortnite, alleging that Google's app store violates antitrust laws. The jury handed down a unanimous verdict on December 12, 2023. Epic Games had filed a similar lawsuit against Apple but lost, and there are thought to be several reasons why they were able to defeat Google this time.

20 things we learned from the Epic v. Google trial - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/23959932/epic-v-google-trial-antitrust-play-store-fortnite-recap



Tim Sweeney: Why Epic did better against Google than Apple in court
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/12/tim-sweeney-why-epic-did-better-against-google-than-apple-in-court.html



Google was charging a 15% fee on payments for app subscriptions and up to 30% on sales from in-game payments. This lawsuit was based on a complaint that Google's collection of fees from app developers such as Epic Games on the Google Play Store violates antitrust laws, and the lawsuit has been going on for three years since 2020. Ta.

On December 11, 2023, after deliberating for more than three hours, the nine jurors concluded, ``Google maintains a monopoly in the smartphone app store market and engages in anticompetitive conduct that harms game manufacturers.'' The court ruled in favor of Epic Games' 11 claims.

California court rules in favor of Epic Games in Epic Games vs. Google antitrust lawsuit - GIGAZINE



Epic Games had filed a similar lawsuit against Apple, but as of April 2023, Apple's claims were upheld in 9 out of 10 claims, and Apple won the antitrust claim. have become. Epic Games, which was dissatisfied with this judgment, has appealed to the Supreme Court.

Apple vs. Epic Games appellate court rules that ``links to external payment systems cannot be prohibited on the App Store'', but Apple wins in most cases - GIGAZINE



Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney goes to court over allegations that Google had secret agreements with some app makers such as Spotify and Netflix , and that Google executives illegally tried to delete records of conversations about those secret agreements. It is said that what was discovered during this time led to Epic Games' victory.

Judge declares new investigation due to Google systematically destroying evidence - GIGAZINE



In addition, Apple's lawsuit was decided by a judge, while Google's lawsuit was decided by a jury trial. He commented, ``This is an example of the greatness of the American judicial system.'' doing.



It has been reported that Apple, like Google, had entered into secret agreements with certain app makers, but although emails suggesting the existence of secret agreements have been discovered, no specific documents regarding the secret agreements remain. It was said that it had not been done.

It turns out that Apple had a ``special agreement to cut fees in half'' with Netflix, due to the disclosure of internal emails - GIGAZINE



Another big difference is that ``sideloading,'' which involves installing apps from the Internet other than from the app store, is not allowed on Apple's iOS, but is allowed on Google's Android. In addition, the IT news site The Verge said that one of the reasons Google lost in court was that Google was unable to demonstrate the basis for its claim that the maximum 30% commission was a fair percentage. says.

CEO Sweeney commented, ``Thank you for your support and trust! Fortnite is free!''

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