36 US states file lawsuit against Google
Washington, Jul 8: As many as 36 US states and Washington DC have filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging that the search engine giant's control over its Android app store violates antitrust laws.
The lawsuit alleges that through a series of exclusionary contracts and other anticompetitive conduct in the Google Play Store, Google has deprived Android device users of robust competition that could lead to greater choice and innovation, as well as significantly lower prices for mobile apps.
New York Attorney General James and the coalition co-led by the attorneys general of Utah, North Carolina, and Tennessee also accuse Google of requiring app developers selling in-app digital content through apps purchased via Google's Play Store to use Google Billing as a middleman, forcing app consumers to pay Google's commission up to 30 per cent indefinitely.
Google has served as the gatekeeper of the internet for many years, but, more recently, it has also become the gatekeeper of our digital devices resulting in all of us paying more for the software we use every day, James alleged.
Once again, we are seeing Google use its dominance to illegally quash competition and profit to the tune of billions. Through its illegal conduct, the company has ensured that hundreds of millions of Android users turn to Google, and only Google, for the millions of applications they may choose to download to their phones and tablets, she said.
Worse yet, Google is squeezing the lifeblood out of millions of small businesses that are only seeking to compete. We are filing this lawsuit to end Google's illegal monopoly power and finally give voice to millions of consumers and business owners, James said.
The lawsuit alleges that Google imposes technical barriers that strongly discourage or completely prevent third-party app developers from distributing apps outside the Google Play Store.
Specifically, Google builds into Android a series of misleading security warnings and other barriers that discourage users from downloading apps from any source outside Google's Play Store, effectively foreclosing app developers and app stores from direct distribution to consumers, it alleges.
Google has not allowed Android to serve as an open source for many years, effectively cutting off potential competition.
Google forces OEMs that wish to design their devices to use Android to enter into agreements called Android Compatibility Commitments or ACCs. Under these take it or leave it agreements, OEMs must promise not to create or implement any variants or versions of Android that deviate from the Google-certified version of Android, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that Google buys off its potential competition in the market for app distribution.
Google forces app developers and app users alike to use Google's payment processing service Google Play Billing to process any payments for purchases of digital content made in apps obtained through the Google Play Store, it said.
Thus, Google is unlawfully tying the use of Google's payment processor which is a separate service within a separate market for payment processing within apps to distribution through the Google Play Store. By forcing this tie, Google is able to extract an exorbitant processing fee for each transaction, as high as 30 per cent, and many times higher than payment processing fees charged in competitive markets, it alleged.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
