Finance and Economics APP learned that game publisher Epic Games has expanded its anti-monopoly legal battle with Alphabet (GOOGL.US) owned Google, accusing this technology giant of collaborating with Samsung Electronics to block competitors' app stores by default on mobile devices sold globally.

In a lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court in San Francisco, Epic Games stated that Google is currently seeking to maintain its market dominance with the help of Samsung Electronics. The lawsuit points out that Samsung Electronics announced in July that all its phones will default to a setting designed to prevent malicious software, but it will also block users from downloading Android app stores that compete with Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, including app stores launched by Epic Games, Microsoft (MSFT.US) and other companies this year.

Before July, Samsung Electronics' automatic interception feature was an optional feature to prevent malicious software. Epic Games stated that this is now a default setting, making Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store the sole "authorized sources" for app downloads.

Epic Games stated in the lawsuit: "The automatic interception feature is almost certain to solidify Google's dominance in the Android app sales arena." The lawsuit also claims that Epic Games has filed a new lawsuit to prevent Google from "denying the competition in the Android app distribution market, which should have been achieved long ago."

The conflict between Epic Games and Google stems from Google's control of its Android app store. Epic Games accuses Google of illegally maintaining its monopoly position by forcing the use of its payment system and restricting access to third-party app stores. In 2023, a jury ruled that Google had abused its market dominance. Epic Games is seeking to stop the alleged anti-competitive behavior and unspecified damages.