Tinder parent Match Group Inc on Monday filed a lawsuit in a federal court in San Francisco accusing Google of abusing monopoly power at its Play Store that sells digital content for Android-powered phones.
The litigation comes as part of an ongoing battle by Match, Epic Games Inc and others to force Google parent Alphabet Inc and iPhone maker Apple Inc to loosen their grips on their respective app stores.
Match’s filing came after Google modified Play Store rules to require its family of apps to use the Internet giant’s payment system, which collects fees of up to 30 percent on transactions, court paperwork said.
Photo: Andrew Kelly, Reuters
Google has made it clear that it will remove Match apps from the Play store if they do not comply with the rule, Match said in the filing, warning that such punishment would be a “death knell.”
“This is a case about the strategic manipulation of markets, broken promises and abuse of power,” Match said in the suit.
Google did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously defended its Play Store fees as in line with industry norms and reasonable for running a secure, global platform for digital content.
DOWNLOAD OPTIONS
While the App Store is the only gateway for content to get onto Apple mobile devices, users of Android-powered smartphones or tablets can download apps at their own risk from online venues other than Google’s Play Store.
Match’s lawsuit contended that despite having options, users get content for Android devices from the Play Store more than 90 percent of the time.
Match called on the court to order Google to let it sidestep the Play Store billing system while keeping its apps on the virtual shelves.
Match is also asking for unspecified monetary damages and legal fees.
Match apps include OkCupid, PlentyofFish and Tinder.
Match, Epic Games and other companies have banded together in the Coalition for App Fairness to lobby for marpetplaces that are just.
Apple has clashed in court with Fortnite creator Epic Games, which has sought to break Apple’s grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of operating a monopoly in its shop for digital goods or services.
A federal judge in November last year ordered Apple to loosen control of its App Store payment options, but said Epic had failed to prove that antitrust violations had taken place.
APPLE’S STANCE
Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook last month attacked moves to regulate his company’s App Store in a speech in Washington, arguing that new rules could threaten the privacy of iPhone users.
“We are deeply concerned about regulations that would undermine privacy and security in service of some other aim,” Cook told an International Association of Privacy Professionals gathering.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day