Google asks US court to dismiss lawsuits over its App Store policies

Alphabet’s Google on Thursday night asked a court to dismiss multiple allegations made by Epic, Match and US attorneys general about how the search and advertising giant runs its app store for phones. Android.

Google’s motion is the company’s latest attempt to end costly and time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. He also asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss the claims in a 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. And he asked a federal court in Virginia to dismiss a lawsuit the federal government filed this year.

“Google is eager to vindicate itself at trial and defend the innovation that made Android so successful,” the company said in its filing, noting that it had filed a “targeted motion for partial summary judgment, which will narrow this sprawling antitrust case for trial.”

In its case filed in California federal court on Thursday, Google asked that five claims be dismissed.

Among them, he asked the court to dismiss claims that Google banned the distribution of other app stores and therefore broke the law. Google has argued that it has no legal obligation to put other app stores in Android and, in fact, most Android phones come preloaded with more than one app store and others can be installed.

He also asked the court to dismiss claims related to Project Hug, where Google paid game developers to keep their games on the Google Play Store rather than publishing them independently. Again, Google argued that game developers aren’t restricted from creating alternative app stores.

Google also argued that revenue-sharing agreements with mobile carriers expired more than four years ago and were outside the statute of limitations.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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