A $128 million lawsuit brought by former CEO Parag Agrawal and three other senior managers who claimed they were not given severance pay has been settled between Elon Musk and the business that was formerly known as Twitter.
A September 30 federal court filing that postponed litigation deadlines and the date of a scheduled hearing in San Francisco did not reveal the terms of the settlement. The executives’ attorney stated in the petition that the parties had negotiated a settlement and that it has specific requirements that must be fulfilled soon.
Musk and X Officials Agrees to Settle $500 Million Suit
The agreement comes as Musk and representatives of X Corp., the new name for Twitter, reached a settlement in August to pay $500 million to roughly 6,000 rank-and-file workers who were laid off and claimed the billionaire had cheated them on severances after taking over the social media company. An email requesting comment on the settlement was not immediately answered by X and Musk representatives on Tuesday. Additionally, a lawyer for the former executives did not immediately respond to a request for comment via email.
Musk did Entire Reshuffling of X After Taking Over
Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 after abandoning an attempt to renege on his $44 billion acquisition offer. This decision was made after a judge in Delaware, where Twitter was incorporated at the time, ruled against him in several pre-trial decisions. Musk sacked a few high-ranking Twitter executives as soon as he took over.
The individuals who filed the lawsuit in addition to Agrawal were Vijaya Gadde, the company’s chief legal and policy officer; Ned Segal, the company’s chief financial officer; and Sean Edgett, the former general counsel of Twitter who currently serves in the same capacity for Match Group. In numerous lawsuits, Twitter—which the billionaire rebranded as X—was charged with labour and workplace infractions, including not providing severance compensation to thousands of laid-off employees.
Former Twitter employees accused Musk of stealing their wages in a severance class-action lawsuit, but a federal court in Delaware dismissed part of the case last month, ruling that the billionaire could not be held accountable as an “alter ego” of the corporation.
Quick Shots
•Elon Musk and ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal reach
settlement over unpaid severance claims.
•Former CFO Ned Segal, legal chief Vijaya Gadde, and
ex-general counsel Sean Edgett also part of the case.
•Federal court filing confirms resolution but does
not disclose settlement details.
•Lawsuit follows Musk’s $500 million settlement with
6,000 former Twitter employees over severance pay.
•Musk fired top executives after his $44 billion
takeover of Twitter in 2022.
A media agency report indicates that Standard Chartered Plc is currently facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from liquidators who claim that the company was involved in the diversion of billions of dollars that were misappropriated from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Singapore on 30 June, is the most recent effort to recoup funds that were seized from 1MDB as part of a ten-year investigation that has involved several of the biggest institutions in the world.
According to a statement issued on July 1, liquidators filed a lawsuit against the Singapore-based bank with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. According to the bank’s statement provided to a media house, the claim documents have not yet been received.
It added that the liquidators had openly declared the 1MDB businesses to be “shell companies with no legitimate business” and that it “emphatically rejects any claims” made by them.
Standard Chartered Rejecting the Claims
However, the Standard Chartered stated that the bank will strongly defend any litigation brought by the liquidators and that any claims made by these firms are without merit. StanChart went on to say that it had invested much in its anti-money laundering procedures and processes.
According to the bank, Standard Chartered closed these accounts in 2013, disclosed the 1MDB entities’ transaction activities, and provided the investigating authorities with full cooperation.
According to the claims, Standard Chartered Bank allowed over 100 intrabank transfers between 2009 and 2013, which aided in hiding the movement of money that had been stolen. The liquidators’ statement stated that these transactions resulted in the claimants losing almost $2.7 billion and the government losing S$20 million ($15.7 million).
1MDB Scandal
With an estimated $4 billion in stolen funds, the 1MDB scam was one of the worst financial scandals in history. Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia at the time, was also prosecuted as a result of the scam.
He was found guilty and given a six-year prison term. Several of the largest banks in the US, Europe, and Asia were also engaged. The disgraced former Goldman Sachs banker at the centre of the scandal, Tim Leissner, was given a two-year prison sentence by a federal court in Brooklyn last month.
According to a media report, liquidators at the financial services company Kroll, which is in charge of organising the 1MDB recovery efforts, have discovered that over $2.7 billion passed through StanChart accounts, including payments to Najib and purchases of jewellery and upscale goods for his family.
In 2016, Standard Chartered was fined S$5.2 million by Singaporean authorities for anti-money laundering violations associated with the case. Fines were also imposed on other banks.
Losing a job as an employee is traumatizing. It is a difficult task for an employer to declare to someone that their payroll is taken away and they are not a part of the company now. This has a lot of effect on people’s careers and lower self-esteem. It is also considered a loss of livelihood. In a workplace, people bond in such a way that when one of the team members goes, it affects the rest. How you handle the situation, how you fire an employee with an attitude from your company determines how people will judge you as the boss. It brings job security issues among other employees.
IBM has terminated more than 100000 employees in the last few years & the same thing is happening in other big companies. As the boss, you don’t just enter into a working space, and make a shout to someone that you are fired. This is illegal, unprofessional and is against work ethics. Before terminating somebody’s salary, assess employees performance challenges, warn and document justification. The following are some of the basic procedures that can be used to fire an employee with a bad attitude from your company.
Most employers ignore or think they are playing safe by not issuing employment contracts to employees. In this case, employment is considered as at-will terms (oral contract). Employers take this to their advantage and fire Employees with bad attitudes anyhow. Sometimes they fire with reasons and time with no apparent reason. Employees in such a case are at liberty to leave the company anytime. An employment contract provides job security to employees and stipulates clearly grounds for termination of services. An oral contract is based on the cause of dishonesty, position declared redundant, poor performance and insubordination.
Define Clear Expectations
When getting an employee on board, set the clear groundwork. Write down expectations right from the beginning. Job description highlights the tasks and might change based on the emerging needs of the organization. Pin Set policies and guidelines somewhere on how specific tasks should be done. You can easily tell when a certain rule has been broken. Where possible, document and let employees append signatures for adherence. Employers can terminate services based on this.
Publish Set Discipline Policies
Policies on progressive discipline should be set. Bosses should enforce and emphasize this as the court expects you to abide by them. Policies will help you to tell where there is a problem that needs attention. Employers have a right to terminate the contract as a result of gross misconduct or poor performance.
Take Charge of Constructive Discharge
Claims about constructive discharge can be a result of salary reduction, demotion, termination threats and agreed transfers. Employees may raise claims about poor working conditions and situations that have forced them to quit the job. Employers should be equipped with federal employment laws so they will not be accused of poor working conditions.
Organize a Termination Meeting
After evaluating all the reasons why an employee with a bad attitude should be fired, documented the right information to support the action. When it reaches the time to disclose this to an employee, be etiquette so they may leave in peace and dignity. This prevents employees from returning with a lawsuit. Respond to any query an employee might have. Summarize the employee documented grounds for terminating and don’t generalize. Give the employee a chance also to express themselves.
Conduct Exit Interview
It is not a waste of time for employers to conduct an exit interview. Feedbacks are important as they give you an overview and highlight areas that need improvement and necessary measures to be taken. Let the Employee with a bad attitude fill in the interview exit form that will act as a reference. If addressed seriously, it can create a better working place for other employees.
Conclusion
Labour laws protect employees from any form of abuse in the working environment. Traumatization and depression can occur as a result of the termination. Therefore, the termination process should be conducted in a careful and transparent manner after a serious discussion with the employee and taking necessary measures that are needed throughout the process.
FAQs
What are the reasons to terminate an employee?
There can be many reasons one can terminate an employee, the most common ones are, incompetence, attendance issues and dishonesty towards the work.
When can an employer terminate an employee?
The employer should give at least a 30 day notice period before firing an employee.
Does HR need to be present during the termination of an employee?
It is better if a member of the HR department is present during the termination of an employee.
Humans are amazing animals, I mean we are smart and can do almost anything. Be it flying, cooking, innovating, and even revolutionizing the whole world with unbelievable technology. Think about this, the first computer was built in 1822, by a smart human called Charles Babbage. It used to have vacuum tubes and large compartments for storage. We have grown from that time at a rapid scale and efficiency, we have seen multifold growth in technology.
So much so, that the computer that once occupied a whole room by itself, now sits in your hand. Moreover, it just sits on our palms for a long time now as our screen times jump.
The smartphone industry has grown and has become one of the biggest industries in the world. Right now, there is a smartphone user base in the billions. This growth has led to the establishment of smartphone giants. Behemoth organizations like Apple and Samsung.
We all have that friend who is an ardent fan of apple, and we all have got a friend too who is always in love with Samsung. This takes us back to the smartphone war that has continued since time immemorial. The android vs apple war. This disparity in demographics is a good indicator of the product market. The user market is much skewed in different directions.
This article is the dissection of the silent raging war between Apple and Samsung. Read on to discover stories and not many known facts about the tech hulks.
It’s not a necessity to introduce Apple. The reason is that it is already a brand, a valuable brand which has managed to make a place in the hearts of people all around the world. That also explains why the company has no ‘about us’ section on its website.
Apple is the brainchild of Steve Jobs. It is an American multinational company specializing in consumer products in the tech line. The company is the biggest technology company with its magnanimous revenues and the most valuable company in the world. That too started from a garage and managed to become the most recognizable company in the world. It has been revolutionizing personal tech for decades.
Apple Product Line
Apple 1 was the first computer handmade by Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder) under the name Apple in 1976. It was a computer encased in a wooden block. Then followed by Apple 2 which was more successful than the predecessor. After the success, they faced good losses in the fall of Apple 3. It faced overheating issues.
After seeing such failure they started to work on innovating something new. To come out of this deep pit, Something that will hopefully revolutionize personal computing.
They began to work on the Macintosh. It was their first computer that supported GUI or Graphic user interface, which allows the user to communicate with the computer in graphical mode. Launched the Macintosh in 1980 and this began the winning strike for apple.
Steve Jobs with John Sculley
It was in 1983 when Steve Jobs famously asked Pepsi CEO John Sculley to be Apple’s next CEO or if he wanted to “sell sugared water for the rest of his life or change the world? ” The relationship went bad later.
To remove him, Steve initiated a move that backfired and ended up removing himself from the board. The company saw good growth under the leadership of Sculley until he was removed because of some failed products.
Later Apple bought ‘Next’ which was founded by Steve Jobs bringing him back as an advisor. He immediately trimmed most of the product density in Apple and made the company as slim as possible and launched new sleek products.
Steve Jobs with the First iPhone
He worked secretly on the first iPhone and launched it in 2007. It was an instant hit. Since then, iPhones have been the most popular phones in the world. A major part of Apple’s revenue comes from them.
The Samsung that we know today, wasn’t this when it started. It has gone through enormous shifts. Surprisingly, the company was not even in the technology business at its inception in 1938. It was a small company dealing in fried fish and noodles. In the 60s it entered the smartphone segment and today is the largest manufacturer of smartphones, televisions, and memory chips in the world.
In 1938, Lee Byung-Chul dropped out of college and founded a small business he named Samsung Trading Co. The initial corporate logo had three stars and was based on a graphical representation of the Korean Hanja word Samsung. It operated with the same Japanese culture as every corporate body, the employees did as they were told.
Soon with a good culture and with government assistance it entered domains like sugar refining, media, textiles, and insurance and became a success. So at this time, it was in good economic condition.
After the succession of third heir Kun-hee, the company saw an opportunity in technology and he invested heavily in semiconductor technologies and transformed Samsung from a manufacturer into a global technology powerhouse.
After Kun’s death, his easy-going son succeeded to the throne and began investing more in smartphones and more in tech. Later the company saw the most profits from smartphone sales. The most famous Samsung phones are Galaxy, after the first launch in 2009. During the third quarter of 2011, Samsung surged past Apple to the number one spot among phone manufacturers, based on shipments.
Samsung, as it saw handsome revenues in the smartphones segment, mocked Apple in many ways. You can still see those commercials on YouTube. So did Apple. They released commercials that defame other pioneer brands openly. This makes the rivalry public and leads to polarisation in the market. Let us discuss it in further detail.
The Rivalry Inception of Samsung and Apple
As the smartphone market and the hype around this continues to grow, smartphone leaders fight for greater dominance in this segment of the product. Behemoth organizations Samsung and Apple are the pioneers in this segment and one of the most famous rivals in the world. They not only fight for a greater market share but the main rivalry is a little off topic, it is a long legal battle into dark plagiarism.
Samsung not only competes with Apple in the notebook, tablets, and smartphones market, It also supplies Apple with crucial items for iPhones like OLED display and flash drive memory chip for storage. The Samsung we know today has not been constant as we consider its long history.
In the 80s the company was primarily focused on the semiconductor business. Apple was one of Samsung’s largest buyers, ordering billions of dollars of parts for electronic devices. Its CEO at that time did meet several times with Steve jobs for advice or negotiations. The two companies had friendly relations with each other. Until something happened.
In 2007 the first iPhone was unveiled to the world. Two years later, in 2009 Samsung came up with a touchscreen device for their market running on Google’s android system. Apple CEO Steve Jobs called Samsung a Copycat. ‘POOF’. Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung. The rivalry began.
According to Walter Issacson, Steve’s biographer, He wanted to start a thermonuclear war against Android in this case of plagiarism and copying apple’s authenticity. From that event, Samsung dared from being a supplier of technological equipment to a competitor in market share. It went from being an ally to a fierce enemy.
Apple was extremely infuriated with this and dragged the matter into court, showcasing that the company is super sensitive about this issue. It filed a lawsuit against Samsung in serious violations of patents and trademarks of Apple’s property rights.
However, the court case wasn’t the first guard of Apple against Samsung. Both the companies Apple and Samsung had a long history of cooperation, so Apple first thought of talking the matter out rather than taking the case to court.
Apple proposed a licensing deal for Samsung for the patents and trademarks. The document stated that Samsung will pay 30$ on selling every smartphone and 40$ on every tablet.
Samsung ofcourse declined the offer, stating that the company hasn’t done anything wrong and is not involved in copying Apple or violating any of the trademarks mentioned in the lawsuit. Not only this, Samsung reversed the licensing agreement onto Apple stating that they are the ones who are copying. This began the row of court cases by these tech hulks against each other.
The lawsuit filed by Apple was specific about the number of patents and the type of patents Samsung violated, let us discuss a little about the violations Apple mentioned.
The Billion Dollar Samsung Apple Lawsuit
The first lawsuit demanded 2.5 billion dollars in damages from Samsung. So we can assume it wasn’t a normal lawsuit. Apple was very serious about their smartphone launch and now with this case too. Samsung however seemed like it was ignoring Apple’s claims of plagiarism and trying to put the burden on Apple themselves.
Trade Dress
It is a visual form of patent, that deals with the visual and overall look of a product. Sometimes companies copy some famous brand’s product look and hope to generate sales. As people tend no not to look about details of a product, rather they just pick up based on the appearance of something. It instills confusion in consumers. Samsung Galaxy phone was the first touchscreen phone in the Samsung product line and it looked mostly the same as the newly launched iPhone.
Trademark Infringement
Apple Samsung Design Similarity
While Samsung could argue on the physical appearance being similar with iPhone but another thing the lawsuit included was trademark infringement. The icons on the iPhone were strikingly similar to those in Samsung’s phone. This turns the eyebrows up for Samsung. As there can be thousands of ways of designing icons and GUI effects, Samsung chose in most cases icons similar to that of the iPhone.
Other than these the lawsuit also concluded the methods of copying of the home screen, the design of the front button, and the outlook of the app’s menu. All these were some specific irks for Samsung.
The case began in 2011 and went on to go worldwide. By July 2012, the two companies were still tangled in more than 50 lawsuits around the globe, with billions of dollars in damages claimed between them.
Hearing both sides, the law court ruled in the favour of Apple. The basis was their legitimate concerns about their product being copied in the open market. Samsung paid $1 billion in compensation to the iPhone designer.
“I am talking to you on a phone right now that Apple just copied,” said Brian Wallace, Samsung’s former vice president for strategic marketing. “It’s a giant phone that Steve Jobs made fun of. Who was right? Samsung was right.”
After this and all the cases in between this first court case, Samsung didn’t stay shut. It widely talked against Apple and filed lawsuits claiming infringements of their company policies and patents. These behemoths fought each other like wild animals. Suffering millions on each side, Tore each other apart in claims.
Conclusion
Apple claimed that Samsung had copied the iPhone, leading to a long-running series of lawsuits that were only finally resolved in 2018, with Apple being awarded US$539 million. Issues between the two companies continue. They are now perhaps best described as ‘frenemies’.
While tech hulks like these two fight for global dominance and the crown of the most innovative technology pioneer, it is sure that smartphones are a hot topic. It seems like everyone wants the latest phone to set a trend. From the latest Samsung foldable phone to the iPhones sold as a jewel. This market kind of seems like a fashion innovation.
Apple and Samsung will most probably rule until someone innovates in between. Whatever it will be, humans are fascinated and the future is exciting.
FAQ
Who won the Samsung Apple lawsuit?
Apple won the patent dispute against Samsung and was awarded $1.049 billion in damages for 6 of the 7 patents brought to bear.
Why did Apple sue Samsung?
Apple initially sued Samsung on grounds of patent infringement.
Who launched first smartphone Apple or Samsung?
Apple iPhone was launched in 2007 and two years later, in 2009, Samsung released their first Galaxy phone on the same date.
On September 3rd 2021, both Lyft and Uber announced that the companies will now cover the complete legal fees of the drivers who get sued under the new controversial abortion law in Texas. The Texas Abortion Law is also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act and Senate Bill 8 was passed on 19th May 2021 bans abortion after six weeks or after the heartbeat is detected.
According to many medical studies, most women usually are not even aware of the pregnancy for six weeks. Besides that Senate Bill 8 also gives Texan citizens the access to file a lawsuit and collect damages of up to $10,000 against anyone who is considered to be aiding or abetting women in getting an abortion. The driver who would drive women to clinics or hospitals in the state is also potentially liable.
The law has caused protests and outrage by women not only in Texas but across the world. It is also considered to be the biggest restraint to the constitutional right of women to get an abortion in decades.
On 3rd September 2021, Logan Green the current CEO of Lyft said that the company is creating a driver legal defense fund in order to cover the complete legal fees if the company driver gets sued under the new abortion law in Texas.
In a statement against the new Senate Bill 8 law, Lyft went on to say that it was incompatible with women basic right to privacy as those are the values of the company.
The company also said that that the law was an attack on women’s access to healthcare and their right. This is why Lyft donated a sum of $1 million to an organization called Planned Parenthood in order to ensure that transportation never becomes a barrier to people accessing healthcare. Lyft also encouraged other companies to follow in their footsteps.
In a statement, Lyft said that “Drivers are never responsible for monitoring where their riders go or why. Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride.” The company also added that “Similarly, riders never have to justify, or even share, where they are going and why. Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a healthcare appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel on you for fear of breaking a law. Both are completely unacceptable.”
Shortly after Lyft statement, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also joined hands with Lyft facilitating their drivers with a similar policy.
In a Twitter post, Dara Khosrowshahi said that “Drivers shouldn’t be put at risk for getting people where they want to go. Team Uber is in too and will cover legal fees in the same way.”
On 19th May 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Texas Heartbeat Act which is also known as Senate Bill 8 of the 87th Legislature. According to this bill, abortion is considered to be outlawed once the heartbeat of a fetal is detected, which usually occurs in the sixth week of pregnancy. Besides banning abortion after six weeks, the law does not have any exceptions for instances of rape or incest.
It only allows abortions in the case of medical emergencies. With Senate Bill 8 coming into action, people can now sue anyone who helps a Texan woman seeking an abortion. However, according to the law, the women seeking an abortion will not be the target of prosecution, while anyone who helps women get abortions can get charged over $10,000 by Texan citizens.
The Senate Bill 8 met with a few legal challenges, but after the Supreme Court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers the same week. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 leading to the law to come into action on 1st September 2021.
The top dating companies like Bumble and Match have also raised their voice against the new abortion laws in Texas. The companies have come forth in order to help fund Texan women access the services for abortion. Shar Dubey the CEO of Match said that the company has set up funds for employees who need help to travel to another state to have an abortion.
In a statement, Bumble also added that the company will launch a fund in order to help women who want services for abortion in Texas. Another web hosting company called GoDaddy also removed a group known as Texas Right to Life as it was said to be in support of the new law and because it was putting up information about alleged violations of the act. GoDaddy removed Texas Right to Life on the terms that it violated the terms of service of its platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Senate Bill 8?
According to this bill, abortion is considered to be outlawed once the heartbeat of a fetal is detected, which usually occurs in the sixth week of pregnancy.
When did Texas Heartbeat Act come into effect?
The Texas Heartbeat Act come into effect on 1st September 2021.
Why are Uber and Lyft paying legal fees for their drivers who sued under the Texas Abortion laws?
Both Uber and Lyft are paying legal fees for their drivers who sued under the Texas Abortion laws because they think they believe that drivers should not be put at risk for getting people where they want to go.
On 20th August 2021, Epic Games finally revealed details about its antitrust lawsuit against Google. The newly released court filings contained the nature of the allegations and the evidence to back them up. Epic filed a case not only against Google but Apple too for the same reasons.
The case against Apple finished its trails stages and are waiting to get a verdict from the federal judge, while the case against Google is going at a slow pace. Both Google and Apple had removed Fortnite from their app stores, which is what led to Epic filing a lawsuit against them. Fortnite currently has over 400 million registered players only from those two app stores.
According to the lawsuit, Epic claims that both Apple and Google are misusing their monopoly power to control or generate more profits. The main problem that Epic has with Google and Apple is over the excessive fees that the app stores of these companies are charging its app developers. So far, Epic has made multiple allegations against both Google and Apple, keep reading to find out what they are.
In July 2018, Epic Games received a partnership deal of over $208 million from Google executives for a period of three years, the gaming company also claimed that Google tried to offer a discounted fee of 25%, instead of its standard 30% cut it usually took from app developers, to give Epic Games an additional revenue share.
But the gaming company is said to have rejected this “custom offer” and choose to allow Fortnite downloads for android through Epic’s own website through a partnership with Samsung electronics. Another reason Epic Games trying to bypass Google Play Store and Apple app store is that they wanted to help their users in availing better deals and offers for in-game purchases in Fortnite on Epic’s own store.
After this happened, both Google and Apple removed Epic’s Fortnite gaming app from their app stores which led to Epic filing a lawsuit against Google. Both Google and Apple app stores are known to charge 30% fees for all the in-app purchases for games, which is their main source of revenue, especially for gaming app developers. Epic wants to charges their user’s only a 12% fee, but both the conglomerates have blocked the gaming company from getting its store on their platform.
Epic also added that the 30% fee is over 10 times more than what payment platforms like PayPal and Stripe offer, which is only 2.9%. The Gaming Company is said to be expecting relief from Google and Apple monopolistic practices and is not looking to gain any monetary relief through this lawsuit.
According to Epic Games, Google has made many attempts to make big smartphone companies like Samsung and One plus not preinstall the Epic Games store. The lawsuit says that Google apparently created Project Hug in order to give benefits or deals to gaming companies like Activision Blizzard that support Google Cloud and YouTube.
It also added that Google is offering side deals like YouTube sponsorships and cloud services to companies like Activision Blizzard through Project Hug. The company also claims that Google made attempts to buy shares of Epic Games through a major shareholder Tencent so they can shut down competition from the gaming company. Epic also stated that Google has added many unnecessary extra steps to prevent users from purchasing directly out of Epic.
The allegation does not end there as Epic also claims that Android is not open-source as it claims and has made deals with Google that prevent smartphone manufacturing companies from offering other app stores without restrictions. Moreover, the company also went on to say that both Google and Apple are working together even though they are competitors.
Epic’s lawyers added that “These deals allow Google to keep its monopolistic behaviour publicly unchallenged. But Epic is not interested in any side deals that might benefit Epic alone while leaving Google’s anti-competitive restraints intact; instead, Epic is focused on opening up the Android ecosystem for the benefit of all developers and consumers.”
Over 37 states and districts of the USA had filed a separate antitrust lawsuit against Google Play Store claiming that Google Play Store exercises a monopoly over application distribution. The attorney generals from these states claimed that the platform was cutting down the profits of app developers and taking a huge commission on the in-app sales.
This lawsuit also added that Google was using illicit measures in order to maintain its monopoly over app developers. Because of this, Google Play Store for the first time in 13 years disclosed its revenue on 30th August 2021.
According to the Google Play store, the total revenue of the platform was over $11.2 billion in 2019. This amount is said to include the price of the app, in-app purchases and the revenue generated through advertisements on the Play Store app.
Worldwide gross app revenue of Google Play
What is Google’s Response against these Allegations?
Google has already come out and called these allegations baseless and said that it is mischaracterized their business conversations. Google spokespersons also added that Android does provide more choices in smartphones for both app developers and its consumers. Google has not come out with their official statement yet, while Epic’s year-old lawsuit against the company is likely to be a threat to its app store.
What is the main reason behind the Epic lawsuit against Apple and Google?
The main reason Epic has filed a lawsuit with Google and Apple is over the excessive fees that the app stores of these companies are charging its app developers.
What is Epic Games?
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher with its headquarters based in Cary, North Carolina.
Who is the founder of Epic Games?
Tim Sweeney and Mark Rein founded Epic Games on 15 January 1991.
A trial is being set for May 2021 for the lawsuits and legal filings between Apple and Epic Games. We may finally be able to see a conclusion for the lawsuits and filings.
There have been a couple of lawsuits between these two corporations. All the issues started over when epic games found a way to avoid paying 30% of fees charged by Apple on its app store. Let’s look at all the lawsuits and legal filings which has happened to date by Apple and Epic Games.
The entire issue started back on 13 August 2020, when Epic Games had introduced an update for its gaming app Fortnite on iOS and Android devices. The new update gave the users an option to purchase V-bucks directly from Epic Games rather than doing it through App store on iOS devices or the play store for Android devices.
Generally, when you purchase anything on the app store or Google play store, Google and Apple will charge 30% as a transaction fee. But with the new update for Epic Games gaming application, they had found a way to avoid paying 30% transaction fees to both Google and Apple.
This reduced the price for users to purchase V-bucks at a cheaper price as they dint have to pay 30% of the transaction fee to Apple or Google.
Fortnite Delisted from Stores
Apple responded quickly. They gave an incredibly quick response on the same day that is 13 August 2020. Apple immediately delisted Fortnite from the app store. Soon after that, even Google followed the same by removing the app from the Google play store.
It was an unexpected move from Apple as the company was taking its major source of revenue from one of the most popular games in the world.
In no time Epic Games had released a response for Apple’s delisting. A 1984 Fortnite video was aired by Epic Games on the same day in which Fortnite Parodied an Apple ad. The ad communicated a warning of the big corporations having dominance over life.
1984 video is considered to be a statement from Epic Games. It was positioning itself as a corporation that can fight another corporation against its dominance in the market. After the delisting of Fortnite Epic Games took the fight directly to Apple.
Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple in California. Epic Games strongly stated that it would build launch its own app storefront on the iOS devices. Epic Games stated that they felt obliged to charge extra for their V-bucks due to the extra transaction fees charged by App store.
Epic’s lawsuit is concentrated on launching its own app storefront on iOS devices. This is expected to be a separate from Apple’s app store and this would open opportunities for other developers as well.
Microsoft’s support for Epic Games
Microsoft had indicated its support for Epic Games lawsuit against Apple. This was mainly concentrated on Apple’s decision to block Epic Games from accessing the Unreal engine and updating it for iOS devices.
Microsoft alleged that this would have a really big impact on the games on iOS devices and that relied on the Unreal engine. It meant that the games which used Unreal Engine will not receive any more updates.
Later in August, a judge ruled in favor of Apple but for a temporary point of time. The U.S district court Judge ruled that Apple did not have to immediately reinstate Fortnite into their app store.
The Judge also stated that Apple could not stop Epic Games from accessing the Unreal Engine. The Judge provided permission for Epic Games to continue providing updates for its Unreal Engine, even though Fortnite was not reinstated in the app store.
The Next Trial
It was later announced that Epic Games and Apple would move to the court for the next trial which will be held on 3 May 2021. This trial will be concentrated on exploring Apple’s dominance as a monopoly over the distribution of apps.
The trial would be in the limelight for the reasons such as whether one of the most popular games in the world would return back or will ever be able to return back to the iOS devices.
The other reasons would include whether Epic games would be able to maintain their access towards the Unreal Engine and whether a third-party apps storefront can be launched on the iOS devices other than the app store.
FAQ
Why was Epic Games removed from app store?
Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are applied equally to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store.
Is Fortnite banned on Apple?
Apple has banned the popular mobile game Fortnite amid a legal battle with its publisher, Epic Games, but the iPhone maker’s customers may soon be able to resume playing the title.
What is V bucks?
V bucks is an in-game currency that can be spent in Fortnite Battle Royale, Creative, and Save the World modes.
Conclusion
We will have to wait and look forward for the next trial to analyze all the answers and solutions for the above reasons and this lawsuit of Apple and Epic Games is expected to have a really huge consequence to be faced throughout the gaming industry.
