Google Requests US Court to Dismiss Lawsuits Over Its App Store Policies

Alphabet's Google asked a court late Thursday to toss out several allegations made by Epic, Match and U.S. state attorneys general about how the search and advertising giant runs its app store for Android phones.

Google's motion is the company's latest bid to end costly and time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. It has also asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss claims in a 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. And it has asked a federal court in Virginia to dismiss a complaint that the federal government filed this year.

"Google looks forward to vindicating itself at trial and defending the innovation that made Android successful," the company said in its filing, noting that it had brought a "targeted motion for partial summary judgment, which will narrow this sprawling antitrust case for trial."

In its court filing in federal court in California on Thursday, Google asked that five claims be thrown out.

Among them, it asked the court to toss out allegations that Google prohibited the distribution of other app stores and, thus, broke the law. Google argued it does not have a 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.

It also asked the court to toss out allegations related to Project Hug, where Google paid game developers to keep their games in Google's Play Store rather than releasing them independently. Again, Google argued that game developers are not prevented from creating alternate app stores.

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

© Thomson Reuters 2023