Pichai Set to Take the Stand: Google Play Trial Kicks Off Next Week

Next week, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc., will be appearing before a jury to defend Google Play app store policies, which are the central point of contention in a significant antitrust battle with Epic Games Inc.

Epic, which makes the popular game Fortnite, plans to call Pichai on Tuesday to testify in federal court in San Francisco for the trial, which begins Nov. 6, an Epic spokesperson told Bloomberg News. The battle began after Epic sued Alphabet’s Google in 2020, alleging that its app store’s distribution, payment and payment practices are anti-competitive.

Pichai’s testimony is crucial as Alphabet faces allegations from Epic that the company is abusing its app market power and stands to lose billions in revenue if its app store practices are changed. He appeared in court less than two weeks ago on the witness stand in a landmark trial in Washington over allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that the company’s search business prevents competition.

Epic lawyers are likely to press Pichai on issues such as Google Play and Android operations, Google’s contracts with developers and phone makers, and the company’s contracts and relationship with Apple, according to a court filing filed last month that allows him to be questioned for up to one time. hour.

Google’s lawyers plan to question him for 30 minutes about how Google Play’s policies and business practices are justified because they promote competition, and about Google’s counterclaims that the game maker breached its contract and acted in bad faith in trying to set up its own app store. Around Google Play’s billing system.

The trial is scheduled to last until early December and is also expected to include testimony from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.

The case is In Re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-02981, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).