Tribunal thumbs up £260m legal settlement against Google
A UK specialist court has greenlit a £260m settlement in a class action against Google’s parent company, Alphabet, following an agreement last week.
The settlement is the largest payout for class members the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has ever approved, though it is significantly lower than the £1.04bn the claim was estimated to be worth when it was filed in September 2024.
City-based law firm Geradin Partners had alleged in its case against the US tech giant Google that it abused its dominant market position by charging excessive commissions on Play Store transactions for Android customers.
Under the settlement approved on Wednesday, a £160m fund will go directly to compensating eligible developers, including sole traders and SMEs. Each affected developer’s amount will depend on their qualifying sales on the Play Store since August 2018, while the remaining £100m will cover legal costs, including the litigation funder and insurers.
Commenting on the approval, Damien Geradin, founding partner of Geradin Partners, which represented the claimants, said the judgment confirmed the settlement was “in the interests of thousands of UK businesses.” He added that the firm was “proud” to have supported this ‘historic achievement’.
In a statement last week, a spokesperson for Google said: “We are pleased to reach an agreement with the developers to end this litigation, subject to court approval. We remain committed to supporting the UK developer community in building the next generation of digital experiences.”
Legal cases stack up against Big Tech
Several competition class actions have been brought against big tech companies in the UK in recent years, with Apple becoming the first last year to face similar claims as Alphabet over “excessive and unlawful” App Store fees affecting nearly 20 million British users.
The UK’s collective action regime was introduced in 2015 to give consumers and businesses who couldn’t realistically litigate alone a route to redress. As a result, cases filed with the Tribunal have surged, mostly targeting Big Tech companies.