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Google countersues Epic Games using Apple's recent legal arguments

Google has taken more than a few pages out of Apple's recent playbook in a countersuit against Epic Games.

TJ Denzer

October 12, 2021 1:05 PM

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With the way that news is going in the ongoing Epic Games vs. Apple court case, it might be easy to forget that Epic Games sued Google on similar grounds regarding the Android mobile platform. Well, following the recent court decision from Epic Games vs. Apple, Google has broken silence to launch a countersuit against Epic. More than that, Google’s countersuit utilizes many of the arguments Apple successfully used against Epic Games in the recent legal decision.

Google filed its countersuit against Epic Games fairly recently, with redacted versions of the full suit appearing on CourtListener on October 11, 2021. A large portion of the arguments presented in Google’s countersuit are fairly similar to the arguments laid out in Apple’s own mostly successful defense. Major among them were that Epic’s lawsuit was predetermined and reliant upon goading the company into suable action, signified by a prepared and immediately launched PR campaign arguably meant to gain public support for its actions.

Google goes on to say that Epic’s Nineteen-Eighty-Fortnite PR campaign, in addition to other details, such as the naming of its strategy against platforms such as iOS and Android (“Project Liberty”) and the chatter of CEO Tim Sweeney, suggests Epic Games entered into an agreement for which it had no intention to keep.

“Not satisfied with those immense [Android] profits, it entered into a legal agreement with Google with which it never intended to comply, deceiving Google and concealing its true intentions to provoke a legal and public relations confrontation that continues to this day,” the suit alleges.

It will remain to be seen if Google’s countersuit will follow the same line and judgement as the initial verdict in Epic Games vs. Apple, which is currently being appealed. Nonetheless, stay tuned as we continue to follow this ongoing legal saga for further news and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.