Judgment of the Tribunal in respect of an application by Ms Elizabeth Helen Coll, as proposed class representative (“PCR”), for a collective proceedings order (“CPO”) pursuant to section 47B of the Competition Act 1998 (“the Act”) (“the CPO Application”).
The CPO Application seeks to combine “standalone” claims against the Proposed Defendants, five entities in the Google corporate group, (together “Google”), in respect of the proprietary operating system licensed by Google for smart mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) known as Android. The PCR contends that Google has contravened the Chapter II prohibition contained in section 18 of the Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, by engaging in exclusionary and exploitative abuses of dominant positions in the markets for (i) the licensing of smart mobile operating systems, (ii) the distribution of Android apps via Google’s Play Store, and (iii) the provision of payment processing services via the Play Store.
The PCR seeks to bring the collective proceedings on an opt-out basis on behalf of all “GMS Device users” (essentially, all users of smart mobile devices which run on Google Android) domiciled in the UK (and on an opt-out basis for those domiciled outside of the UK), a class which is estimated to include 19.5 million consumers and businesses.
Google did not oppose the PCR’s CPO Application and therefore was not represented at the hearing.
For the reasons given in the Judgment, the Tribunal decided that Ms Coll’s CPO Application should succeed as indicated at the hearing on 18 July 2022.
