Google Challenges Epic Games’ Antitrust Victory Over Play Store

Google is urging a federal appeals court to overturn an antitrust ruling in favor of Epic Games, which accused the tech giant of stifling competition in its Play Store.

The legal battle kicked off in August 2020 when Epic Games took on both Google and Apple, accusing them of stifling competition for alternative app stores. While the case against Apple largely went in the tech company’s favor, the outcome of the Google lawsuit has been different.

In December 2023, a San Francisco jury found that Google had violated antitrust laws by clamping down on competing app stores through various agreements with mobile manufacturers.?

Following this verdict, US District Judge James Donato, in October, ordered Google to allow developers to set up their own app marketplaces and offer users billing options outside of Google’s payment system.

However, in an appeal filing on November 27, Google claims that Judge Donato’s ruling is flawed. The company is calling for the entire outcome of the legal tussle to be thrown out.?

In its appeal, Google argues that the judge did not call into question the fact that it competes with Apple in the smartphone sector. The Android developer also contends that Donato made a mistake in opting for a jury trial instead of deciding himself whether Google’s practices were anti-competitive.

The search giant further argues that the ruling would unfairly compel engagement with rival app stores — an action it claims is an unprecedented attempt to reshape market operations through the federal court system.

Meanwhile, this is one of many antitrust cases Google is fighting to upturn, including a DOJ lawsuit that could force the company to sell Chrome to break its monopoly on online search.

In the interim, Donato’s ruling is on hold, pending the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision on whether to extend the pause or enforce immediate compliance.