San Francisco (AFP) – “Fortnite”-maker Epic Games is suing tech giants Google and Samsung, it announced Monday, accusing them of illegally colluding to block competition on Samsung devices. CEO Tim Sweeney said his company filed a claim in a federal court in California, the same jurisdiction where the company won a yearslong legal battle with Google in 2023. He said he would also take the fight to authorities in Europe and Asia if necessary, amid his long-running battle to force Apple and Google to open up their smartphones to other app stores.
“This is a major global fight, which is ultimately for the right of consumers to get all the benefits of competition and choose freely who they want to do business with,” Sweeney told reporters. The latest lawsuit focuses on Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature. Epic claims that feature was implemented in coordination with Google to undermine a recent US court decision against Google’s app store practices. Following that decision, Epic in August launched its own app store, which allows users to bypass the Google-run store and offer content directly to smartphone users.
Epic alleges that Auto Blocker surreptitiously blocks the new app store by making it harder to install apps from sources other than the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. Samsung in July changed Auto Blocker from an “opt-in” feature to the default setting, forcing users to navigate a 21-step process to download apps from third-party stores or the web. In a statement, Samsung said that it plans to “vigorously contest” what it called Epic Games’s “baseless claims.” “The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users’ personal data,” a spokesperson added.
– ‘Meritless’ – A Google spokesperson said the lawsuit was “meritless,” adding that Android device makers such as Samsung “are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure.” But Epic argues that Auto Blocker cements Google Play Store’s monopoly and violates the jury verdict in Epic’s prior court victory against Google. In that case, a jury found Google’s app-store practices, including agreements with phone manufacturers, to be illegal.
“Allowing this coordinated, illegal, anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury’s verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world,” Epic said. Epic, the company behind the hugely popular “Fortnite” video game, is asking the court to prohibit what it calls anti-competitive conduct and mandate that Samsung remove Auto Blocker as the default setting on its devices. As part of Epic’s ongoing battles with major tech companies over app store policies and fees, the company also previously sued Apple, in a case it mostly lost.
The new lawsuit comes at a time of increasing scrutiny of big tech companies’ market power by regulators and lawmakers worldwide, with new laws passed in Europe, Japan and South Korea limiting the way the giants can do business.
© 2024 AFP
