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Following its antitrust victory against Google last year, Epic is now going after both Samsung and Google for allegedly conspiring to establish what it says is a similarly anticompetitive scheme on its Galaxy smartphones.
Epic's recently filed federal lawsuit focuses on Samsung's Auto Blocker feature, a setting designed to prevent Galaxy smartphone users from downloading “unauthorized” apps from third-party sources, such as the recently released Android version of the Epic Games Store. . Introduced last year as an optional feature, the Auto Blocker feature is now enabled by default during the initial setup of a Samsung phone following a system update in July (the feature can be disabled with a simple change during setup or in phone settings). after).
Epic's lawsuit takes particular exception to the fact that Samsung does not provide any way for a company like Epic to qualify as an “authoritative source” that has been deemed safe under Auto Blocker. “While Samsung half-claims that Auto Blocker is a security feature, its operation is to block all competing stores, regardless of how secure they may be, and without any evaluation of their security or any path for other stores to achieve this 'authorization,'” the lawsuit argues.
Who are you protecting?
In effect, Epic maintains, this means that the Auto Blocker feature “renews[s] the moat that protects the Play Store from competition”, a moat that was at least partially dismantled in the Epic vs. Google verdict of the case. By allowing Google's Play Store to be the only other “authorized” source for apps under Auto Blocker, Samsung's feature “protects, first and foremost, Google's illegal monopoly, not Samsung's Galaxy Store, which Samsung has never attempted to do.” competitive”. The new lawsuit makes strong reference to the arguments of the Epic against Google case alleging that an informal agreement between Samsung and Google has prevented the Samsung Galaxy Store from becoming a true competitor to the Google Play store. The lawsuit notes that while the Samsung Store is available on 40 percent of all Android phones, it accounts for only about 1 percent of all Android app downloads.
The lawsuit also draws attention to the timing of Samsung's decision to turn on Auto Blocker by default just as Epic and other third-party app stores were launching on Android. That timing is especially suspicious, according to the lawsuit, in light of Samsung's initial Auto Blocker announcement last year, which left the feature disabled by default because, as Samsung said, “[t]”There are many benefits to intentional offloading, such as greater customization and control over a device's functionality.”
This fact pattern forms the core of Samsung's argument that implementing Auto Blocker by default must have been “a coordinated decision by Google and Samsung to circumvent” the test results. Epic vs. Google lawsuit. While the lawsuit does not provide any concrete evidence that such an agreement exists, it argues that “in the absence of an agreement between Samsung and Google, it would be irrational for Samsung (or any company in its position) to consolidate the Play Store monopoly.”
In a statement, Samsung said it planned to “vigorously contest Epic Games' baseless claims… The features built into its devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguard personal data of users.”