Google files a complaint against the Match group, which publishes Tinder. The company would like to avoid paying Play Store commission on microtransactions. The case follows another where Match Group filed a lawsuit against Google to avoid having to use the Play Store’s payment service.
Google is fighting back Match Group for damages and a judgment that would give it the ability to ban Tinder and the group’s other dating apps from its Play Store.
A case already settled, but Google wants to go further
As Engadget recalls, earlier this year, Match had filed a lawsuit against Google for violations of antitrust legislation. Google had required Android app developers to process payments from ” digital goods and servicesthrough the Play Store billing system.
A case that ended with a legal agreement in May, which temporarily allows Match applications to remain downloadable on the Play Store and to use its own payment system, Google wishing to show ” sincerity “. On the other hand, Match was forced to offer Google’s billing system as an alternative. The story could have ended there, but Alphabet, parent company of Google, wants to go further.
According to Google, Tinder would like to stop paying Play Store commissions
Alphabet now claims, in a court filing seen by Bloomberg which Match Group would like to pay “ Nothing at all to Google. This includes the 15-30% Play Store commission fee on microtransactions. Google states in this document that “ Match Group never intended to comply with the contractual terms it agreed to (…) this would also put Match Group in an advantageous position over other app developers“.
In reaction to this, Match Group told Bloombergthat the rules of the Play Store are against federal and state laws. He adds that “Google doesn’t want anyone else to sue them, so their counterclaims are meant as a warning shot“.
Tinder’s parent company says it’s confident
The company says it is confident in resolving this counterattack, “alongside other developers, the U.S. Department of Justice, and 37 state attorneys general making similar demands“.
Last year, an antitrust action was launched by these players against Google and its Play Store prices. An action that came after Google reduced its commission on payments in mobile applications to 15% on the first million dollars, then to 30% above. What is in question is also the fact that the web giant wants to force developers to go through its payment system.
Finally,end gadgetstates that at the beginning of the year,a Senate bill has been introduced, targeting in-app payments in Google and Apple stores“. This is reminiscent of the case in which Epic Games is embarked on the withdrawal ofFortniteof the Play Store and the App Store, with a lawsuit opposing it to Apple.
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