Google

A court has refused leave to appeal a permanent stay of a class action run, funded and led by lawyer Andrew Hamilton against Google and Meta that challenged their crypto ad bans.

The competition watchdog has accepted an undertaking from TPG not to renew an agreement requiring it to pre-install Google on mobile devices it supplies, following similar undertakings given by Telstra and Optus last month. 

Google has slammed Fortnite game maker Epic Games’ landmark competition case against it as “contrary to commercial reality”, saying its competition with rival tech giant Apple means it is no monopolist.

The ACCC has accepted undertakings from Telstra and Optus not to renew agreements requiring them to pre-install Google apps on Android devices as part of its competition probe into Google.

In a landmark competition case, Apple has told the Federal Court that Epic Games and other developers should not be allowed to “freeride” on the resources and user base the tech giant has “spent many billions” to develop. 

Epic Games has taken aim at Google for the “untruthful evidence” of its witnesses in the game maker’s competition case against the tech giant, as well as its failure to call senior executives to the stand to defend itself. 

Video game maker Epic Games has attacked as “entirely contrived” the defence by Apple in closing submissions in a Federal Court trial of its landmark competition case, pointing to the tech giant’s lack of evidence, including from CEO Tim Cook.

The sole director of a small software company can’t act for his business in defending against an intellectual property case brought by digital titan Google, despite his plea to the court that his firm did not have the financial means to hire lawyers.

Epic Games’ case alleging Google ran its Play Store anti-competitively is “significantly more ambitious” than the Fortnite game maker’s claims against Apple, according to the search giant, which says its restraints are “more flexible and less draconian” than the iPhone maker’s.

Hitting back at claims that its App Store stifles competition, Apple has told a trial that app developers have myriad ways of maximising profits without paying it a commission, noting Epic Games made US$3.8 billion from in-game currency V-Bucks in 2021.