[Exclusive] 'David's Counterattack'... One Store Files Damage Compensation Lawsuit Against Google

Google Blocks One Store Game Release
Files Damage Claim at Seoul Central District Court Today
Claim Amount Expected to Reach Hundreds of Billions of Won

One Store logo

Native app market operator One Store has filed a damages lawsuit against global big tech company Google. The reason is that Google allegedly abused its market-dominant position to block domestic game companies from listing on its platform, causing significant damage.

According to the platform industry and legal circles on the 19th, One Store submitted a complaint for damages to the Seoul Central District Court against Google on the same day. The legal representative is the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee LLC.

The amount claimed is 510 million KRW, which is a partial claim for now. It is reported that the claim will be amended after economic analysis of the damage scale is completed. The industry expects the total damages claimed to reach several hundred billion KRW.

This is the first legal dispute between app market operators. In the case of Google Play and Apple App Store, the smartphone models on which they can be installed differ, so there was no conflict. Samsung Galaxy Store did not have a reason to worsen relations since Samsung smartphones use Google's Android OS. On the other hand, One Store can be freely installed on Android and applies relatively low commission rates, making it a potential competitor to Google.

The basis for the damages claimed by One Store is the Fair Trade Commission's investigation results announced in April last year regarding Google's interference with competing app markets. At that time, the FTC imposed a fine of 42.1 billion KRW on Google for blocking mobile game companies from releasing games on the competing app market, One Store.

It was revealed that Google offered mobile game companies app market featuring and overseas expansion support on the condition that they do not release games on One Store. Featuring refers to placing an app in the most visible spot when consumers open the app market. Google actively offered benefits that could be enjoyed if the same game was not released on One Store, exploiting game companies' belief that Google's overseas featuring support was crucial for successful overseas expansion.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, Google recognized the risk of violating the Fair Trade Act and conveyed the exclusive release conditions to game companies in the most discreet manner possible. Within the company, it requested deletion of emails related to such acts and encouraged offline discussions to minimize leaving evidence.

The period during which Google abused its market-dominant position was from June 2016, when One Store was launched, until April 2018, when the FTC investigation took place. The industry believes that Google's blocking behavior continued even after 2018.

However, since Google still denies the legal violations, this court battle is expected to become a ‘strong versus strong’ confrontation rather than a settlement. Google previously stated regarding the FTC's fine imposition, "We have cooperated sincerely with the FTC investigation for the past five years and demonstrated that there was no violation of the law," and "Google makes significant investments for developers' success and regrets the conclusion reached by the FTC."