Google has criticised two competition class actions which piggyback on claims brought by Fornite developer Epic Games as “opportunistic”, but counsel for the class actions told a court the suits on behalf of more than 15 million group members were in the public interest.
A judge overseeing a landmark competition case against Apple and Google has questioned whether Apple’s US lawyers wrongly used court submissions in Australia to put pressure on Epic Games in Europe and justify temporarily removing its developer account.
Google offered Fortnite creator Epic Games $200 million and proposed to acquire equity in the company to prevent it from opening its own app store with exclusive content that could compete with the search giant’s Play Store, a court has heard.
Apple has made exceptional profits skimming a 30 per cent commission from sales on its app store, dubbed by the tech giant’s CEO an “economic miracle”, Epic Games has said on the first day of trial in a landmark competition case.
An Australian court will get a chance to weigh in on whether Apple and Google violated their dominant position in the app marketplace by requiring developers to use their payment systems or face a 30 per cent fee, when trial kicks off Monday in Fortnite game maker Epic Games’ case and two related class actions against the tech giants.
The High Court has agreed to weigh in on how damages for reduction in value should be calculated under the Australian Consumer Law, granted competing special leave applications in a class action against Toyota over defective diesel filters.
Toyota has denied allegations it fitted up to 500,000 diesel vehicles with engine devices designed to scam emissions tests, in a class action that could be “one of the biggest” in Australian history.
Damages for reduction in value under the Australian Consumer Law are at the centre of competing special leave applications to the High Court filed by Toyota and the lead applicant in a class action over defective diesel filters.
An appeals court has partially sided with Toyota in a challenge to the damages bill assessed by a judge in a class action over defective diesel filters, saying the reduction in value of affected cars should be assessed at 10 per cent, not 17.5 per cent, of the price paid by motorists.
Toyota has lodged an appeal of a judgment that could see it owe around $2 billion to 260,000 car owners for selling vehicles with defective diesel filters for more than they were worth.