Epic Games has a long history of being involved in legal battles, often finding itself in more lawsuits than many other companies. While it has had some victories, it has also faced defeats. One of the most significant cases was Epic Games v. Apple in 2020, where Epic challenged Apple's App Store rules, arguing they were anti-competitive. The court determined that Apple was not a monopolist under federal or state antitrust laws, but it did conclude that Apple's anti-steering rules were in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, giving Epic a partial win. Despite this, Epic lost the majority of its claims in that case.
New Allegations Against Google and Samsung
Now, Epic is targeting two major tech companies—Google and Samsung—accusing them of working together to hinder competition in app distribution on Samsung devices. The crux of the lawsuit revolves around Samsung's Auto Blocker feature, launched in 2023, which by default stops users from installing apps from third-party sources. To bypass this restriction, users must go through a complex 21-step process.
Epic argues that the Auto Blocker was designed to protect Google’s monopoly on app distribution, contravening a prior court ruling against Google. According to the lawsuit, this feature reinforces Google’s dominance by making the Play Store the only easily accessible source for app downloads on Samsung devices, thereby suppressing competition.
Seeking Change in App Distribution
Through this legal action, Epic aims to compel Samsung to disable Auto Blocker as the default setting, ensuring that the court’s earlier decision in Epic v. Google is honored, which should curtail further anti-competitive behaviors. Epic has previously won a case against Google in a U.S. court regarding the Play Store's billing practices; it remains to be seen whether they can achieve success once more.
For further details, including the complete statement from Epic Games and the 21 steps to install Flow on Samsung devices, you can find the full exhibit available online.
