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Sean Hollister

Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

    More From Sean Hollister

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Epic really wants Lopez to say that turning chat history off was a “tool” that employees could and did use to protect Google from discovery.

    Epic’s lawyer asked the question several different ways, including “If a person did not want something kept after 24 hours, this is a tool you could use for that?”

    Lopez would not explicitly say that an employee might use it that way on purpose — he suggested it might be to protect their own personal conversations — but he did wind up roundabout admitting the tool could be used that way.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    We’re getting into the nitty-gritty of how long Google stores internal communications before auto-deleting them.

    Google’s 2020 Chat Retention Policy says in black and white (and Lopez has confirmed) that chats are permanently deleted after these amounts of time:

    24 hours if chat history is turned off

    Otherwise: 30 days for one-on-ones

    18 months for chats in a threaded room (though apparently Google planned to change this back to 30 days in 1H 2021).

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “At Google, we are constantly in the public eye... and the courthouse.”

    That’s how Google’s training document begins — and Epic’s attorney Lauren Moskowitz is taking us on a whirlwind tour of phrases like “Sometimes the best way to communicate something super sensitive is to not write it down” and “Your communications can have unintended consequences for you and the company.”

    Now, she’s asking Lopez if he understands the concept of a legal hold — that relevant documents should not be deleted during a legal proceeding. “Even anything that may be relevant must be preserved, right?” Yes, he says, as long as it’s potentially relevant.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Genaro Lopez, Google’s information governance lead, is getting quizzed by Epic about the deleted chats.

    We are looking at a training presented to Google employees titled “You Said What?! Ten things to ensure you are communicating with care.”

    Epic really, really wants the jury to think that Google intentionally deleted evidence — and that the company directed employees to do so. Let’s see what it actually says...

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “This is a courtroom of the people of the United States; there is no trial in secret.”

    We’ve just begun day two of the Epic v. Google trial.

    The quote is Judge James Donato telling lawyers for Activision, Amazon, and (absent today) Nintendo that he’s not inclined to seal some exhibits they want to seal — instead, he’s asking Epic to work things out with each of them right now, in the courtroom hallway, before Epic tries to present those exhibits at trial.

    Judge Donato is inclined to let Google seal the names of some companies it’s in “active negotiation” with.

    The Epic v. Google trial may come down to simple v. complicated

    In opening statements, Google tried to outline the goals of its Android business. Epic focused on painting the tech giant as a bully.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Epic v. Google day 1 is done.

    After Google attempted to point out that Down Dog does at least explicitly have the ability to contact its customers via email about alternative ways to pay (would that make a difference if they bounced off the higher price tag or already signed up for a year via Google Play?), the court has dismissed Simon as a witness and wrapped up early for the day.

    See you tomorrow!

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Down Dog is being a very good witness for Epic.

    If I were sitting in the jury box, I’d be very skeptical of Google’s anti-steering rules right now: Simon testified that 28 percent fewer incoming potential users decided to pay for his app at all after Google forced him to remove an in-app button that advertised a way to pay 33 percent less at his website.

    “At first we just had to remove the 33 percent button ... they later made us remove some links from our website because we had some links in our app to a FAQ page,” he says.

    “As a former Google employee, it was shocking to me ... Maybe it was a Google app review team employee who was making a mistake.”

    Google is currently trying to destroy his credibility on cross-examination.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “Down dog is an important yoga pose, and we also wanted to make my dog the logo for the app.”

    Benjamin Simon, co-founder, CEO, and president of Yoga Buddhi, is our second witness. He’s behind the app Down Dog, and he was also called as a witness in the Epic v. Apple trial. There, he testified that Apple repeatedly rejected his app for steering — mentioning you could get a discount by signing up outside the app store.

    The judge in that case rejected Apple’s so-called anti-steering rule, though that court’s decision is currently on hold.

    On Google Play, he charges $60 a year or $10 a month; on his website, it’s $40 a year or $8 a month.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Now Google’s getting somewhere.

    Apparently, Epic Games Store head Steve Allison said under oath years ago that he believes Epic’s fee for its store is for access to Epic’s audience, not just for payment processing.

    Google pounced on that. Steam charges a higher rev share for its larger audience and larger collection of games, doesn’t it? Google Play has a larger audience and more games, so shouldn’t it deserve a higher rev share? Shouldn’t Google deserve money for more than payment processing?

    Allison found a way through it, but Google may have made its point.

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