Professor Barry Rodger is applying to bring a claim on behalf of UK based app developers to seek damages for losses caused by Google in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal.

That could include you.

What has happened?

Prominent competition law academic, Professor Barry Rodger, is bringing a class action lawsuit against Google on behalf of a large number of UK Android app developers who he says are collectively entitled to up to £1.04 billion in compensation from the US tech company.

Professor Barry Rodger claims that Google has abused its dominant position to the detriment of a large class of thousands of UK app developers who need to use its app marketplace, ‘Play Store’ or ‘Google Play’, to access their customers. The class action lawsuit seeks compensation for the losses in revenues suffered by those individuals and businesses, many of whom are SMEs, from August 2018 onwards.

Why is Google’s conduct anticompetitive and harmful to app developers?

Professor Rodger alleges that Google has used a variety of technical and contractual restrictions to ensure that the Google’s Play Store is the only place where UK app developers can market or sell apps designed for Android devices. The result is that UK app developers have little choice other than to use the Google Play Store if they want to reach a wide audience. Google has then used its dominant position in app distribution to require developers who sell digital content to pay excessive and unfair commissions (of up to 30%) on all their sales to customers. Professor Rodger claims that absent the combination of exclusionary and exploitative conduct, app developers would have paid less to distribute their apps and sell their digital content.

What have the regulators said?

Professor Rodger’s action follows significant litigation and regulatory scrutiny of Google’s Play Store conduct around the world, including by the European Commission, the UK’s Competition and Market Authority and the US Congress.

Who is involved?

Professor Barry Rodger is assisted by a team made up of expert competition lawyers, litigators and economists. The claim is being fully funded by Bench Walk Advisors, a top-tier litigation funding firm, so if you are an app developer who sells (or has sold) digital content through the Play Store, you stand to benefit, but won’t have to cover any costs. This is also an “opt-out” claim for app developers, so you don’t need to proactively do anything to make sure you’re involved.

Who’s the class representative?

Professor Barry Rodger is the proposed class representative. He is a prominent competition law academic and has been a Professor at Strathclyde University Law School since 2001. He set up the competition law research center, SCALES, at Strathclyde University, is Chair and Treasurer of the Competition Law Scholars’ Forum and co-editor of the online Competition Law Review.

Who is in the Proposed Class?

This is an opt-out claim on behalf of UK based app developers at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, to obtain damages for losses caused by Google. If you are an app developer who made apps available on the Google Play Store from August 2018, are UK-domiciled, and paid Google’s commission on sales of apps or in-app content, you are likely to be included in the class.

Why is a class action needed?

A class action is needed in the present case because UK app developers would not individually have the means to each bring claims against Google. The UK’s opt-out class action regime in the CAT provides a mechanism by which these app developers can legitimately seek damages for the harms they have suffered as a result of Google’s conduct.