SAN FRANCISCO—Last week, NetChoice filed a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with the Chamber of Progress, Communications & Computer Industry Association (CCIA) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), arguing that a lower court’s ruling in Epic Games v. Google forces Google to create a “rivals-protection racket” at the cost of innovation, app security and competition, creating a messy situation that harms consumers and developers alike.
“The District Court’s ruling goes against the very foundations of U.S. antitrust law. It would actively harm competition by placing the interests of competitors above consumers,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice Associate Director of Litigation. “This ruling would hamstring Google and force it to prop up its rivals by turning over access to its entire app ecosystem to its direct competitors. It sets a pernicious precedent, discouraging investment in success and harming small app developers who significantly benefit from Google’s high security and privacy standards. Antitrust is supposed to protect consumers—not prop up disgruntled rivals.”
Taske continued: “The Ninth Circuit should reverse the lower court’s ruling and ensure consumers retain their power and influence in the app-store market.”
NetChoice’s amicus brief with Chamber of Progress, CCIA and CTA makes 2 key points:
- The District Court’s ruling distorts antitrust law. It would force Google to directly aid its competitors and hamper Google’s ability to compete—taking the market power away from consumers in choosing their most favored products to propping up the government’s favored businesses.
- If left in place, the court’s ruling would wreak havoc on app developers whose intellectual property could be commandeered by other app stores, as the court’s remedies require Google to provide its entire Play Store app catalogue to competing app stores.
Read the brief here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.