serves that purpose over and over again. No SVP or social media platform can meet user needs in the same way. They therefore are not functionally interchangeable with GSEs.
- 2. Industry or Public Recognition
Industry or public recognition “matters because [courts] assume that economic actors usually have accurate perceptions of economic realities.” Rothery Storage, 792 F.2d at 218 n.4. Plaintiffs have presented significant evidence that market participants consider GSEs to be a distinct product with no adequate substitutes.
First, browser developers recognize that GSEs are a distinct product. Browsers contain a default search access point, and only GSEs occupy that position. To install an SVP or a social media site as the default would restrict that key access point to a particular vertical or subset of verticals, creating a poor user experience. FOF ¶¶ 146–147, 149. To that end, browsers allow users to switch the search default only to a GSE and not to an SVP or a social media platform. The available alternative defaults in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all are GSEs. FOF ¶ 61. Mozilla recognizes that certain SVPs are frequented by its users, and so it has created a unique feature in the desktop version of Firefox that allows users to perform individual searches with SVPs like Amazon or Wikipedia, using the Firefox toolbar. FOF ¶ 60. But even Firefox does not allow a user to change the default search engine to an SVP. FOF ¶ 61.
Second, Android OEMs and mobile carriers also consider GSEs to be a distinct product. By signing the MADA, every Android OEM has installed a GSE—Google—as its default search access point (whether in the Google Search Widget or Chrome). FOF ¶¶ 59, 350, 363. No Android phone comes with an SVP or a social media platform installed at the default search access point. Not surprisingly then, Google’s various RSAs with OEMs and carriers define the term “Alternative Search Service” to include platforms similar to Google. FOF ¶¶ 385–390. Certain RSAs explicitly
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