According to the latest reports, court documents show that Google has agreed to pay 90 million US dollars to settle a lawsuit with application developers. The lawsuit focuses on Google forcing app developers to use its payment system and charging high commissions.
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App developers in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco alleging that Google used agreements with smartphone makers, technical barriers, and revenue-sharing agreements to effectively shut down the app ecosystem and make most payments go through the Google Play payment system completed, and this system will charge a 30% service fee by default.
As part of the settlement, Google said in a blog post that it will commit $90 million to support app developers with annual revenue of up to $2 million between 2016 and 2021. “The vast majority of U.S. developers earning revenue through Google Play are eligible for this fund if they so choose,” Google wrote in a blog post.
The company will also continue to take a 15 percent commission from developers who make up to $1 million a year through the Google Play Store, Google said. The company will start taking this step in 2021. The settlement is still subject to court approval.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, said there may be 48,000 app developers eligible to apply for the $90 million funds, with a minimum payout of $250. Apple last year agreed to ease restrictions on the App Store for small developers and settled a class-action lawsuit. The company also agreed to pay a $100 million settlement.
The U.S. Congress is also considering legislation that would require Google and Apple to agree to sideloading, which means downloading apps without going through the app store. They would also ban the two companies from forcing app developers to use Google and Apple’s payment systems.
