“Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games told a federal judge in California after a jury found the U.S. tech giant abused its power as gatekeeper of apps on the Android mobile platform. It called for forcing Google to further open up the Play Store to competition.
In a court filing Thursday with U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco, Epic would, among other things, allow the Google Play Store to distribute competing third-party app stores for six years and limit the company's ability to distribute competing third-party app stores. asked to request to do. Make agreements with device manufacturers to limit preloading of competing app stores.
Mr. Donato presided over a major antitrust trial that ended in December with a jury verdict against Alphabet Inc.'s Google.
Representatives for Google and Epic did not respond to requests for comment.
Donato is under no obligation to approve Epic's proposal, and it will likely be a tough battle before a permanent order against Google is issued. But the new filing is the next major test of Google's ability to impose regulations on app developers and consumers.
A jury said in December that Google unlawfully interfered with developers' ability to freely distribute their apps outside of Google's Play Store and overly tightly controlled payments for transactions within apps.
Epic's proposed injunction also says Google should be prohibited from restricting “how apps notify users about out-of-app purchase options.”
Google defended its app store practices and denied wrongdoing. The company has set a May 3 deadline to respond to Epic's proposal. Epic's lawsuit does not seek monetary damages.
North Carolina-based Epic Games is privately held, with China's Tencent holding a 40% stake and Walt Disney Co. owning about 9% as of February.
In December, Google separately agreed to pay $700 million to resolve state and consumer claims related to Play Store restrictions.
The company then said it was expanding the ability of app and game developers to offer consumers alternative billing options for in-app purchases. Google announced that it has been piloting “choice billing” in the United States for more than a year.
Google has announced it will appeal the antitrust jury's verdict in December, and while the reforms ordered by Donato can be challenged separately, the litigation could stretch for years.
A similar lawsuit Epic filed against Apple in 2020 challenging its control over the App Store is still pending after a non-jury trial and appeal.
(issued April 12, 2024, 10:39 IST)
