The Paris Commercial Court sentenced Google to a “civil fine” of 2 million euros and the obligation to remove seven essential clauses from the contract between developers and Google regarding the distribution of apps on the Play Store .
Google has just been sentenced by the Paris Commercial Court to a ” civil fine of 2 million euros. It is the abusive commercial practices towards the developers of mobile applications that are singled out.
This court decision follows a summons in 2018 by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) on the decision of Bruno Le Maire, in a context of tensions with the United States who wanted to tax steel and aluminum imports.
2 million euros fine and changes requested
According to the judgment, consulted by AFP and Le Figaro, Google will have to modify seven clauses of its distribution contract. These are the contracts dated from May 5, 2015 to July 2, 2016 which are pointed out, according to the court many rules are ” imposed by Google without effective negotiation ” and ” reflect the submission or attempt to submit application developers to obligations creating a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the parties “.
Among the rules questioned, the court criticizes that these contracts “require developers to set prices within a price range defined by Google and require them to let Google collect a 30% commission on each sale”.
The court also points out that these contracts “offer Google the option of unilaterally suspending the distribution of an application or access to its services”, “allow Google to freely use all the information, in particular confidential information, communicated by developers without any reciprocity”, and “exempts Google from all warranties and liability vis-à-vis the developers. “. The seven clauses cited must be deleted from the contracts that bind developers and Google.
Google has already changed the rules of the Play Store
Google was questioned by Le Figaro, the American group is considering appealing: “ We regret the decision of the Commercial Court of Paris and take note of it. Android and Google Play give developers more choice than any other platform, and the ability to reach an ever-growing audience “. In addition, they comment on the court’s findings, explaining that the contracts have evolved a lot since 2018.
Since the end of 2021, Google has reduced the commission levied on certain categories of applications distributed by the Play Store and under certain conditions. It has gone from 30% to 15% on all subscriptions, while music and e-book streaming apps are eligible for a commission that can drop to 10%. As for music and digital book streaming applications, the commission can be reduced from 15% to 10% (video streaming is not affected). More recently, Google launched a test program to implement an alternative payment system.
In addition, Android developers also enjoy a 15% commission on the first million generated by app sales or In-App purchases. However, once this threshold is crossed, the 15% becomes 30% again.
Apple and Google are being sued around the world for abuse of dominant position. As a reminder, the DGCCRF had also taken Apple to court. We will have to wait a little longer to consult the conclusions of the investigation since the file is still under investigation.
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