The case will be based around whether Google breached section 46 of competition law, whereby a firm with a substantial degree of market power is prohibited from engaging in conduct that has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially reducing competition in a market.

Unlockd's product allowed mobile operators to put advertising on phones running on Google's Android operating system, which was viewed on unlocking the phone. Google claimed this violated its terms of service, despite earlier having approved it, and instigated a ban that removed almost all of Unlockd's revenue streams.

Mr Berriman has since kept up his efforts to bring legal action against Google in the US, and the ACCC's case will be in addition to his efforts.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims declined to comment on upcoming legal actions when approached for this article. Mr Berriman, however, said he had been encouraged by the ACCC's courage in taking on Google over privacy last week, and was assisting its efforts to show the tech giant was acting in an anti-competitive manner.

"Someone has to stand up for consumers and the business community to protect them – and Rod deserves credit for being the first in the world to do so," Mr Berriman said.

"We’ll continue to assist the ACCC in respect to what Google unlawfully did to Unlockd ... We’re looking forward to also having our day in court as it unfolds."

Fitbit deal


The ongoing US antitrust cases took a fresh turn last week when Alphabet-owned Google announced it would buy wearable tech fitness tracking company Fitbit for $US2.1 billion ($3 billion).

While Google will be able to argue that there are no antitrust grounds for blocking the deal, due to their lack of competing wristband products, concerns have been raised on both sides of US politics about the amount of citizens' healthcare data that it would inherit in the deal.

In Britain, opposition digital, culture, media and sport spokesman Tom Watson wrote to the nation's competition regulator saying the deal should be blocked until an inquiry into anti-competitive practices is completed.

Rokt CEO Bruce Buchanan is concerned greater privacy bureaucracy will entrench Google's dominance against any emerging rivals.

The ACCC's first case against Google, announced last week, was based around it misleading consumers about how to turn off location tracking in products such as Google Maps.

The move was widely applauded by consumer groups, but has received a mixed response from the Australian technology sector, with some warning the case could inhibit the ability of smaller companies to emerge and compete with the likes of Google and Facebook.

Co-founder and chief executive of e-commerce marketing start-up Rokt, Bruce Buchanan, said tech giants were now lobbying for tough EU-style General Data Protection Regulation privacy laws, because they had greater financial ability to implement them than smaller rivals.


"On one side antitrust cases are pro-competition ... but on the flip side action on compliance like GDPR has the opposite affect and entrenches the incumbents and means there is less competition," he said.

"We’ve already seen big tech change their tune in the US. They’ve realised privacy laws are good for them and now they’re in Washington saying you should adopt GDPR. Barriers to entry entrenches the incumbents and erodes competition. It doesn’t matter if you’re a plumber or a tech company."

Chris Hulls, the founder and CEO of ASX-listed Life360, a mobile app that lets users track others' location and activities via their phones, said the ACCC's pursuit of Google fitted in with a global push to enact greater privacy and data regulation.

He said companies were ultimately responsible for the ethical treatment of consumer data and needed to deliver higher standards in being upfront and transparent about how it is used.

"It needs to go above and beyond the fine print," Mr Hulls said.

"There is a growing expectation that the industry needs to work with speed, consistency and transparency when it comes to consumer privacy, and be part of the dialogue with policymakers."