Google Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Legal Fight With App Developers

Google said it would also continue to charge a 15 percent commission to developers who make $1 million (nearly Rs. 6.5 crore) or less annually.

By Reuters | Updated: 1 July 2022 06:53 IST

Google Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Legal Fight With App Developers

Google would put $90 million in a fund to support app developers

Highlights

App developers accused Google of using agreements with smartphone makersT
The court must approve the proposed settlement by Google
Apple agreed in 2021 to loosen App Store restrictions on small developers

Alphabet's Google has agreed to pay $90 million (nearly Rs. 711 crore) to settle a legal fight with app developers over the money they earned creating apps for Android smartphones and for enticing users to make in-app purchases, according to a court filing.

The app developers, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, had accused Google of using agreements with smartphone makers, technical barriers and revenue sharing agreements to effectively close the app ecosystem and shunt most payments through its Google Play billing system with a default service fee of 30 percent.

As part of the proposed settlement, Google said in a blog post it would put $90 million in a fund to support app developers who made $2 million (nearly Rs. 15 crore) or less in annual revenue from 2016-2021.

Google-Bharti Airtel Deal Gets Approval From CCI for $1 Billion Investment

"A vast majority of US developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose," Google said in the blog post.

Google said it would also continue to charge a 15 percent commission to developers who make $1 million (nearly Rs. 6.5 crore) or less annually from the Google Play Store. It started doing this in 2021.

The court must approve the proposed settlement.

Google Now Lets Users Directly Add Passwords on Chrome, Android

There were likely 48,000 app developers eligible to apply for the $90 million fund, and the minimum payout is $250 (nearly Rs. 19,800), according to Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, who represented the plaintiffs.

Apple agreed last year to loosen App Store restrictions on small developers, striking a deal in a class action. It also agreed to pay $100 million (nearly Rs. 790 crore).

In Washington, Congress is considering legislation that would require Google and Apple to allow sideloading, or the practice of downloading apps without using an app store. It would also bar them from requiring that app providers use Google and Apple's payment systems.

Why are they still making more Harry Potter? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.