Google facing £1bn competition lawsuit from professor on behalf of SMEs
A professor has launched a class action lawsuit against Google on behalf of SMEs he said have been negatively hit by excessive commissions on its Play Store.
Competition law professor at the University of Strathclyde, Barry Rodger, has alleged that Google has abused its dominant position by excluding competition in app distribution and by charging excessive commissions to UK-based Android app developers. He says they have no choice but to use Google’s Play Store to market their products.
It seeks compensation of up to £1.04bn for the losses in revenue suffered by the named individuals and businesses from August 2018 onwards.
Google is facing eight other ongoing cases related to competition, according to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
The most recent was filed to the Tribunal in March this year, after being transferred from the High Court. It was brought by Connexity UK, a shopping ad management platform – and others – who said that Google had abused its dominant position in the market.
Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority dropped its double probe into Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. It was investigating whether Google used their app store to put British app developers at a disadvantage.
The CMA said its decision to close the investigation did not mean its concerns were “unfounded or have ceased to exist”.
Professor Rodger said: “It is extremely important that the principles of fairness and equality of opportunity underlie our rapidly expanding digital economy by ensuring effective redress for those harmed by any abusive anti-competitive behaviour in the marketplace.
I am bringing this claim because I believe that Big Tech businesses like Google should not be allowed to run roughshod over small businesses.”
Founding Partner of Geradin Partners, Damien Geradin, said: “Google is one of the most powerful companies in the world… [it] continues to use its monopoly position to force out competition and to exploit app developers.
It is imperative therefore that developers in the UK also have the opportunity to seek redress for Google’s wrongful conduct.”
“A google spokesperson said: “This lawsuit ignores the benefits and choice Android and Google Play provide as well as the competitive market in which we operate and we will defend it vigorously.
Android has always allowed flexibility not found on other platforms – including multiple app stores and sideloading, and enables developers to build successful businesses.
We compete vigorously and fairly for developers and consumers – our fees are the lowest of any major mobile platforms and 99 per cent of developers qualify for a service fee of 15 per cent or less.”