Epic judge orders Google to let rivals set up app stores

A US court has ordered Google to refrain from a wide variety of business practices the web giant uses to bolster its Play Store, as a consequence of its December 2023 antitrust defeat against Epic Games.

In that case, Epic argued that Google's Play Store rules and contractual agreements with developers and partners violated the federal Sherman Act and California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL). And the jury agreed.

On Monday, US District Court judge James Donato issued a permanent injunction [PDF] that forbids Google from eight behaviors deemed unlawful as a result of the case.

"The jury found that Google's conduct violated the antitrust laws and substantially harmed competition in the relevant markets, and directly injured Epic," judge Donato wrote, explaining the injunction. "The jury rejected Google's proffered procompetitive justifications for its conduct. Consequently, the Court concludes that Epic has prevailed on the UCL claim against Google under the unlawful and unfair prongs."

Noting that Google had "fired a blunderbuss of comments and complaints that are underdeveloped and consequently unhelpful in deciding the issues," judge Donato put an end to the extensive input afforded to both sides about the specifics of the injunction that follows from the verdict.

Google, in a blog post, unsurprisingly disagreed - it is appealing the verdict and will ask the courts to pause the injunction until its appeal is heard.

"These Epic-requested changes stem from a decision that is completely contrary to another court's rejection of similar claims Epic made against Apple - even though, unlike iOS, Android is an open platform that has always allowed for choice and flexibility like multiple app stores and sideloading," wrote Lee-Anne Mulholland, VP of regulatory affairs at Google.

Mulholland argues that the court-ordered changes would hinder Google's - and the wider Android ecosystem's - ability to compete with Apple's ecosystem.

The injunction is set to take effect starting November 1, 2024, only in the US, for a period of three years. During this time:

The injunction also gives Epic and Google a 30-day deadline to form a three-person Technical Committee, comprising one representative from each party and a mutually agreed upon third member, to resolve disputes over the implementation of the injunction's provisions.

Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ®