A California judge has dismissed a class-action suit that accused Google of keeping Android phone prices high with its Android operating system demands.
U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freemanhanded down her decision, on Friday, saying that the plaintiffs could not demonstrate a direct link between Google's Android policies and the price of its phones.
A suit filed in May by consumer rights law firm Hagens Berman claimed Google purchased Android Inc. almost a decade ago with the intent of cornering the market by preloading its own suite of apps onto compatible devices. By doing so, the company handicapped the market and forced competitors' gadget prices to unnecessarily high levels, complainant Hagens Berman said at the time.
Named plaintiffs Gary Feitelson and Daniel McKee both maintained their phones—an HTC EVO 3D and Samsung Galaxy S III, respectively—would have cost have cost less and come with better search capabilities if not for Google's competitive restraints.
"Plaintiffs have failed to allege that they have suffered 'antitrust injury' in the same market as and sufficiently close to the alleged anticompetitive conduct to allow them to pursue antitrust remedies against [Google]," the judge said.
She will allow for two of the six claims to be amended; the plaintiffs must "more plausibly" argue that Google violated the one of the major U.S. antitrust laws for their case to be entertained.
Google did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
The news shouldn't be a huge surprise. In December, Judge Freeman suggested the plaintiffs' case may be too vague for the suit to continue.
But this is not the only Android-related case Google is fighting. Russian search giant Yandex is suing Google for the same thing. The country's largest search provider accused Google of actively preventing local smartphone vendors from pre-loading competing services onto Android devices.
The EU, meanwhile, is investigating Google regarding possible anticompetitive behavior with Android, but has not yet decided whether to open a formal investigation. Thus far, the EU has focused its attention on Google's search business rather than mobile.
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