• Individual Google Play Store customers from 12 states are parties to the lawsuit.
• The case is one of numerous antitrust lawsuits against Google that are still unresolved.
• Plaintiffs have estimated $4.7 billion in total damages.

A US judge in California on Monday permitted litigation against Alphabet's Google to proceed as a class action lawsuit brought by 21 million consumers who claim the company's management of its Google Play app store violates US anti-competition laws.

In a 27-page ruling, US District Judge James Donato stated that the plaintiffs had proven the prerequisites for a class action lawsuit alleging anticompetitive business practises, including 'commonality' and other legal aspects.
Individual Google Play Store users from 12 states, including Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia, as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, make up the class. 

The case is one of many antitrust lawsuits against Google that are still unresolved, and state prosecutors in more than 30 other jurisdictions filed identical complaints against Google last year. Together with those state enforcers, the plaintiffs' attorneys in the recently certified class action are working on the case.

Plaintiffs have estimated total damages of $4.7 billion nationwide (roughly Rs. 38,400 crore). In the lawsuit before Donato and others, Google has defended its Play Store business methods and refuted the allegations. 'We're studying the ruling, and after that, we'll analyse our alternatives,' a Google representative said on Monday. 

An inquiry for comment was sent to attorneys for the corporation at US law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius on Monday, but they did not respond right away. Attorneys for Google claimed that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated how their claims had caused them harm; nonetheless, Donato dismissed this claim in favour of class-action certification. 

At the plaintiffs' firm Bartlit Beck, the class's main attorney declined to comment. In addition, the class counsel claim that Google utilised 'misleading warnings to prevent customers from downloading apps outside the Google Play Store' and forbade app creators from directing users to rival stores.