July 1 (Reuters) - A jury in San Jose, California, said

on Tuesday that Google misused customers' cell phone data and

must pay more than $314.6 million to Android smartphone users in

the state, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The jury agreed with the plaintiffs that Alphabet's Google

was liable for sending and receiving information from

the devices without permission while they were idle, causing

what the lawsuit had called "mandatory and unavoidable burdens

shouldered by Android device users for Google's benefit."

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement that

the company would appeal, and that the verdict "misunderstands

services that are critical to the security, performance, and

reliability of Android devices."

The plaintiffs filed the class action in state court in 2019

on behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians. They argued

that Google collected information from idle phones running its

Android operating system for company uses like targeted

advertising, consuming Android users' cellular data at their

expense.

Google told the court that no Android users were harmed by

the data transfers and that users consented to them in the

company's terms of service and privacy policies.

Another group filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in

San Jose, bringing the same claims against Google on behalf of

Android users in the other 49 states. That case is scheduled for

trial in April 2026.