google sued for nixing loose workspace software to early adopters

alphabet inc.’s google changed into sued with the aid of an early adopter of its administrative center cloud productiveness software who claims the agency reneged on a promise to provide it with free get right of entry to to the program for life.

google place of job, formerly referred to as google apps and g suite, affords a bunch of services which include gmail, calendar, drive for storage and google doctors for content material creation. some of the programs are unfastened to all, but employer functions which include custom e-mail addresses and shared force storage price more.

the stratford organization llc sued on behalf of all early adopters who had been lured to use the software in its early ranges, permitting google to quality-tune it and then sell it for a price. in trade stratford employer stated the early adopters were promised a free model of workspace as long as google provided it.

in 2012, google began charging new customers $12 a month to apply the software. then, in 2022, google notified legacy users that they might additionally be charged, even though it later excluded non-business customers of the software.

“google’s abandonment of the credo ‘don’t be evil’ is properly-illustrated in this case,” stratford employer said inside the complaint, filed friday in san jose federal court. “google, as the higher a part of a conglomerate worth almost trillion greenbacks, breaks a promise to dependable customers who helped google expand a profitable product, that allows you to pad its already grossly outsized income.”

stratford business enterprise is seeking magnificence-action reputation for all the early adopters and damages to be decided at trial, however more than $5 million.

google didn’t immediately reply to an emailed request for remark, sent after everyday commercial enterprise hours.

the case is the stratford agency llc v. google llc, 5:22-cv-4547, us district court, northern district of california (san jose).