US judge orders Google to open Play Store to competition
A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Alphabet’s Google to overhaul its mobile app business to give Android users more options to download apps and pay for transactions within them, following a jury verdict last year for Fortnite maker Epic Games.
The order from U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco outlined changes Google must make to open its lucrative app store, Play, to greater competition, including making Android apps available from competing sources.
Donato’s order stated that Google cannot ban the use of in-app payment methods for three years and must allow users to download competing third-party Android app platforms or stores.
The order bans Google from making payments to device makers to pre-install the app store and from sharing Play Store revenue with other app distributors.
Google said in a statement that it will appeal the ruling that led to the order to the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and that it will ask the US courts to stay Donato’s order pending the appeal.
“While these changes will likely satisfy Epic, they will ultimately create a series of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers,” Google said.
Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney posted on social media platform X on Monday that Donato’s order was “big news” and said its Epic Games Store and other app stores will come to Google Play in 2025.
Sweeney said app developers, store makers and others have three years “to build a vibrant and competitive Android ecosystem with such critical mass that Google can’t stop it.”
Shares of Alphabet closed 2.5 percent lower at $164.39 (approximately Rs. 13,803) on Monday, following the verdict. Donato said Epic and Google should establish a three-person technical committee to implement and monitor the order. Epic and Google each get a choice, and those two members select the third person.
Donato said his order would take effect on November 1, which he said will give Google time to “bring its current agreements and practices into compliance.”
Epic’s lawsuit, filed in 2020, accused Google of monopolizing how consumers access apps on Android devices and pay for in-app transactions.
The Cary, North Carolina-based company convinced a jury in December 2023 that Google unlawfully suppressed competition through its control over app distribution and payments, paving the way for Donato’s injunction.
Google had urged Donato to reject Epic’s proposed reforms, arguing they were expensive, overly restrictive and could harm consumer privacy and security. The judge largely rejected those arguments during a hearing in August.
“You’re going to end up paying something to make the world right after you’re caught as a monopolist,” he told Google’s lawyers.
In a separate antitrust case in Washington, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favor of the U.S. Justice Department on August 5, saying Google had illegally monopolized Internet search and spent billions to become the Internet’s default search engine.
Google also began litigation in Virginia federal court in September in a Justice Department lawsuit over its dominance of the advertising technology market.
Google has denied the claims in all three cases.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
