The long-running legal battle between Google and Epic Games has reached a decisive point. On Thursday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling that found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws.
The dispute began five years ago when Epic introduced its own payment system in Fortnite to bypass the transaction fees that both Apple and Google charge for in-app purchases—something that quickly led to Fortnite being removed from their platforms. While Epic lost a similar fight against Apple, the jury in this case found that Google had actively stifled competition and effectively created a monopoly through its contracts and control over app distribution.
Google appealed, arguing among other things that the jury had not considered competition from Apple. The court rejected this claim, stating that the evidence of Google's anti-competitive behavior was clear and substantial. If Google does not take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court—as it has hinted—it will be forced to make major changes to the Play Store, allowing developers to use their own payment systems.
Do you think all app developers should be able to use their own payment systems? Or is it better for Google (and Apple) to maintain control through their own systems?