In a recent court proceeding, Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL CEO Sundar Pichai conceded to erasing certain internal discussions, although inadvertently. This move is under scrutiny by Epic Games, the complainant accusing Google Play Store policies of being monopolistic.
What Happened: Pichai testified in federal court, admitting he sometimes labeled documents as “privileged” and didn’t disable a setting which resulted in internal chats being wiped after a day, reported Reuters.
He defended Alphabet’s Google against a lawsuit by Epic Games, alleging that the tech giant’s app store policies constitute an unlawful monopoly, causing consumers to face inflated prices.
During his testimony, Pichai denied deliberately hiding any documents from the lawsuit.
He stated the term “privileged” on documents indicated confidentiality, not legal privilege. Yet, he later admitted that since 2008, Google largely permitted its employees to judge if their chats could be relevant to a lawsuit.
Epic Games initiated this lawsuit against Google in 2020, following the removal of “Fortnite” from the app store after Epic Games allowed customers to pay directly, bypassing Google’s payment systems.
If the jury rules against Alphabet, it could drastically alter the app store industry.
Google and Apple maintain exclusive control over available apps and receive around 30% of in-app purchases and paid downloads.
Why It Matters: This lawsuit is a continuation of Epic Games’ battle against tech giants over app store policies. Previously, in April this year, Apple declared a “resounding victory” after nine out of ten claims were decided in its favor in a similar lawsuit filed by Epic Games.
Last year in March, Cupertino stated that Epic Games failed in its lawsuit against Apple due to insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.
Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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