Google is sued for abuse of market power

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SAN FRANCISCO – Google has been sued for allegedly abusing its market power by forcing makers of handheld devices that use its Android operating system to also provide its applications.

Google’s requirements that manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics adopt less popular applications in order to use consumer favorites such as YouTube are “designed to maintain and extend its monopolies,” according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California.

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The existence of the Android “mobile application distribution agreements” (MADAs) wasn’t widely known until this year, when Harvard Business School professor Ben Edelman wrote about them on his blog and voiced concerns about anti-competitive behavior similar to the claims in the lawsuit.

Google’s paid search-related advertisements generate billions of dollars of profit a year. The “secret” MADAs require that each Android device maker “pre-loads onto prime screen real estate all of the apps in the suite, whether the manufacturer wants them or not,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit was filed by the owner of a 2011 HTC EVO 3D phone that runs on Android. The owner argued that Google’s restrictions on Android made the phone more expensive.

Edelman, who is a consultant to companies that compete with Google, said in a February blog post that the Android tie-ins choke competition and raise prices for both advertisers and consumers.

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