Tag: antitrust trial

Google and Fortnite-maker Epic Games face off as Android app antitrust trial nears end
12Dec By adminNo Comments
Technology

Google and Fortnite-maker Epic Games face off as Android app antitrust trial nears end

[ad_1] Alphabet's Google on Monday will try to persuade a federal jury in San Francisco to reject antitrust claims by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games in a case that threatens Google's app store and transaction fees imposed on Android app developers.Lawyers for the two companies are set to make their final arguments after more than a month of trial in Epic's lawsuit, which accuses Google of unlawfully scheming to make its Play store dominant over rival app stores. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, also challenges the fee of up to 30% that Google imposes on developers for in-app sales. Cary, North Carolina-based Epic, which owns the popular Fortnite multiplayer shooter game, said in the lawsuit that Google "suppresses innovation and choice" through a "web of secretive, anticompetitive agreements."G...
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Mozilla’s ‘Failed’ Bet on Yahoo Takes Spotlight in Google Trial
2Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

Mozilla’s ‘Failed’ Bet on Yahoo Takes Spotlight in Google Trial

[ad_1] Mozilla Foundation's decision to switch the search engine built into its Firefox browser to Yahoo from Google was a “failed” bet that degraded the user experience, the company's chief executive said. Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Baker said Mozilla decided to switch to Yahoo's technology in 2014 after CEO Marissa Mayer took over and promised “to make a big bet on us.”  “That bet failed,” Baker said in a videotaped interview from 2022 played Wednesday in Google's defense during the Justice Department's antitrust trial. “The search experience that Yahoo was providing to Firefox users deteriorated.” The Mozilla example — the only situation in which a browser has switched the default search engine provider — has been cited by both Google and the Justice Department to support the...
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Google Didn’t Rush Bard Chatbot to Beat Microsoft, Executive Says
2Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

Google Didn’t Rush Bard Chatbot to Beat Microsoft, Executive Says

[ad_1] A senior Google executive disputed suggestions that the company rushed to release its artificial intelligence-based chatbot Bard earlier this year to beat a similar offering from rival Microsoft Corp. Testifying in Google's defense at the Justice Department's antitrust trial against the search giant, Elizabeth Reid, a vice president of search, acknowledged that Bard gave “a wrong answer” during its public unveiling in February. But she rejected the contention by government lawyer David Dahlquist that Bard was “rushed” out after Microsoft announced it was integrating generative AI into its own Bing search engine.“I don't think you can make that conclusion,” Reid said. “Microsoft's announcement also had several errors in it. The technology is very nascent. It makes mistakes. That's...
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Google executive testifies innovation key to avoid becoming ‘next road kill’
29Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

Google executive testifies innovation key to avoid becoming ‘next road kill’

[ad_1] Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan on Thursday detailed challenges the search and advertising giant faces from smaller rivals, describing efforts to avoid becoming "the next road kill."Raghavan testified at the ongoing antitrust trial in the suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general, alleging Alphabet's Google unlawfully abused its dominance in the search-engine market to maintain monopoly power. Raghavan, asked about a 1998 article about Yahoo!'s dominance of search at the time, said he was acutely aware rivals from Expedia.com to Instagram to TikTok competed for users' attention. "I feel a keen sense not to become the next road kill," said Raghavan, a senior vice president at Google who reports to chief executive Sundar Pichai.Ragha...
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The Case to Break Up Google Hinges on Four Taps and a Swipe
27Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

The Case to Break Up Google Hinges on Four Taps and a Swipe

[ad_1] The core of the US government's argument that Google is an illegal monopoly is a process that involves, on an iPhone, exactly four taps and a swipe. That's what it takes to switch search engines. To explain it step by step, prosecutors called to the witness stand on Sept. 26 one of Apple Inc.'s most powerful executives, Eddy Cue.Presented with screenshots of an iPhone displayed on a flat screen, Cue sounded like a technician at the Genius Bar. “The Settings app, by default when you buy a new phone, is on the main screen,” he said. “When you tap on that Settings, you get a list.” He went on: “You tap on Safari, and then you have ‘search engine' listed there. It would show you what the current search engine is that you're using as the default. And then if you tap it, you get a list...
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Alphabet CEO Pichai Set to Testify in Google Play Trial
8Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

Alphabet CEO Pichai Set to Testify in Google Play Trial

[ad_1] Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai is set to be called by Epic Games Inc. to testify in an antitrust trial over Google Play policies that could threaten billions of dollars in revenue generated by the app marketplace.Pichai and Epic's CEO Tim Sweeney have been listed as witnesses in a trial scheduled to start Nov. 6 in San Francisco federal court over whether Google Play policies are unlawful and thwart competition, according to court filings. The high-stakes fight kicked off after Epic sued Alphabet's Google in 2020 claiming that its app store's distribution, payment and fee policies are unlawful. We are now on WhatsApp. Click to join. The dispute is part of a sprawling antitrust fight that also includes complaints filed by attorneys general of almost three doze...
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