Amicus Brief Filed in Epic v. Google in Support of Appellants
Updated: Oct 14
Media Inquiries: Ashley Baker; (704) 214-0542; abaker@committeeforjustice.org
Brief of the Committee for Justice as Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellants
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Antitrust law does not exist to eliminate monopolies as such. Rather, it exists to prevent the utilization of anticompetitive conduct that would harm consumers. If a business uses anticompetitive conduct to dominate a particular market, this is unlawful. But if instead a business uses ingenuity and business acumen to achieve such dominance, it has done nothing wrong—to the contrary, it has helped consumers through the competitive process. Business acumen can include a refusal to deal with rivals. The later is exactly what Google did with Play Store in the market for smartphone apps. Yet the district court has punished Google for these actions and forced it to open its Play Store to all of its rivals, without any conditions.
This cannot stand under antitrust law as is goes against the basic principle that, absent extenuating circumstances that do not exist here, that businesses owe no duty to deal with their rivals. The district court’s injunction forcing Google to deal with its rivals is especially troubling....
