Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Sean HollisterJan 22

Epic judge continues grilling economist.

“Why did you press so hard for catalog access if you’re willing to throw it out the window today?” asks Judge Donato.

Bernheim replies: “I don’t want to throw it out [...] I would love to keep it.”

Bernheim says there’s a tradeoff, though. “If you want to get competition going and as a compliment to that you have a remedy that will ensure the competition, once it develops, will continue, that it has a path for continuing, then those remedies that we’ve described will be extremely effective.”

Sean HollisterJan 22

“What has changed in your view that makes sense for me to pick up my pen and change this injunction that we spent so much time crafting two years ago?”

That’s Judge James Donato, continuing to be skeptical, addressing Doug Bernheim, the Epic economist.

Bernheim agrees with the judge that Google still monopolizes the Android app market and payments market; that the facts haven’t materially changed on the ground.

Sean HollisterJan 22

Epic’s economist says time is the problem.

Bernheim says he “would love to have all” of the anti-Google monopoly recommendations he originally argued for, but that he’s just analyzing what’s in front of him, and that Judge Donato’s existing injunction simply doesn’t last long enough at just three years rather than six.

“When that ends, developers are going to be very dependent on off-Google Play distribution,” he says. “To the extent those frictions are still in place, that will be a problem at that point in time [...] they’ll be reliant on a process that has already been shown not to work well.”

He brings up the example of how Amazon’s Appstore never got traction because users had to click through too many Google barriers.

Sean HollisterJan 22

Judge Donato is skeptical of Epic right out of the gate.

“You called catalog access THE critical remedy to counter the network effects and the pattern of dominance,” says Donato, suggesting that Bernheim is attempting to mislead by suggesting the settlement would be viable without forcing Google to offer up its catalog of apps to rival app stores.

“I questioned you about the need for the duration period, and you said it was such a critical remedy you advocated for a period twice as long,” says Donato.

Sean HollisterJan 22

Epic’s economist argues that the Google settlement is better than the alternative.

He appears to have been commissioned by Epic to analyze the settlement’s modified injunction vs. Judge Donato’s original injunction. “There are some very important pluses, there are some very important minuses,” says Bernheim.

His “main pluses” include:

“Registered app store program offers low-friction path for stores to get onto users’ phones” (but how does he know it’s low-friction?)
No fees on competing app stores or the apps they distribute
Global steering and alternative payment systems, with capped fees

Main minuses?

Removes the catalog access remedy (Google won’t be forced to offer its apps to other stores)
Removes the store distribution remedy (Google won’t be forced into store-within-a-store)
Allows Google to insist on side-by-side billing (app devs would still have to offer Google Play Billing alongside their own)

Sean HollisterJan 22

Epic is starting with Doug Bernheim, a Stanford economist.

He’s just been sworn in, and he’s prepared slides; Unfortunately, the screen on my side of the room is dead, so I’ve migrated to the other side, apologizing to several people who graciously moved for me. Bernheim featured prominently during the trial portion of this case.

Sean HollisterJan 22

I’m live from the courtroom with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and head of Android Sameer Samat.

We’re about to hear the bitter foes-turned-BFFs explain why Judge James Donato should accept their settlement after five-plus years of legal battle. Judge Donato has just entered; Sweeney was on his phone but has put it away. Samat was waiting patiently; he’s got an eye-catching thin beaded bracelet on his wrist.

Epic v. Google: everything we're learning in Fortnite court

Is this the end of Epic and Google’s feud?

Sean HollisterJan 22

Google has finally killed the Stadia Bluetooth tool — but this person rescued it

Sean HollisterJan 20

Sean HollisterJan 16

In exit interview, Star Wars boss says AI will give movies never-before-seen FX.

Kathleen Kennedy tells Deadline she’s excited and “interested in exploring using those tools in responsible ways”:

I’m not saying that it impacts every single story you’re going to tell in cinema, but certainly for big tentpole stories where you’re trying to world-build and create images people haven’t seen before, I really believe this technology is going to do that.

The whole interview’s a good read, but she’s wrong that ILM created the first CG shot in a movie with Young Sherlock Holmes. It was groundbreaking, but Tron, The Last Starfighter, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek II, Westworld, and even 1958’s Vertigo all had CG earlier.

A Shift In The Force For Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy: The Exit Interview

[Deadline]

Sean Hollister

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Senior Editor

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