Judge presses pause on massive changes to Google Play Store

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge on Friday granted a request from Google to delay enforcement of his order that would require the tech giant to open up Android to third-party app stores.

U.S. District Court Judge James Donato, a Barack Obama delayed his injunction requiring Google to open up its Google Play App Store until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decides on a separate request by Google to pause the judge’s order.

“We’re pleased with the District Court’s decision to temporarily pause the implementation of dangerous remedies demanded by Epic, as the Court of Appeal considers our request to further pause the remedies while we appeal," Google said in a statement.

Epic Games did not respond to requests for comment.

On Oct. 7, Donato handed a major victory to Epic Games, maker of hit games like Fortnite, when he issued a permanent injunction requiring Google to open up its Google Play Store on Android devices to third-party app stores and distribute those third-party app stores through Google Play by Nov. 1 in the United States.

The injunction is limited to the U.S. and runs for three years, from Nov. 1, 2024 through Nov. 1 2027. Donato wrote in his order that this would allow competitors to gain a foothold in the Android app store market.

In its motion to stay, Google argued that implementing the changes on such a short notice would expose 100 million-plus people to massive security risks, cost the company untold amounts of money and force fundamental changes to Google’s contractual and business relationships with hundreds of thousands of its partners.

Google also noted that a stay is warranted because it has a strong chance of succeeding on appeal because Epic Games mostly lost a parallel antitrust case it filed against Apple in federal court, a ruling that the Ninth Circuit affirmed after Epic Games appealed. Epic Games also lost its appeal to the Supreme Court.

“In its case against Apple, Epic lost on the question of whether Google and Apple compete within the very markets that Epic asserted here. This court affirmed," Google wrote in its motion to stay. “Violating basic preclusion principles, the court below allowed Epic to relitigate that issue. It is pause-inducing that Apple, which requires all apps go through its proprietary App Store, is not a monopolist, but Google — which built choice into the Android operating system so device makers can preinstall and users can download competing app stores — was condemned for monopolization.”

Google also argued that the injunction violates basic antitrust principles by anointing a court to be the central planner for the Android ecosystem and forcing Google to service rival competitors.

“The injunction forces fundamental changes to Google’s business model, hobbles Google’s ability to compete, inflicts reputational harms, increases security and privacy risks for millions of users, magnifies burdens on device makers (OEMs) and over 500,000 developers, and requires Google to deal with rivals,” Google wrote in its motion.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, published a fact sheet earlier this week echoing much of what was written in the motion to stay.

“If allowed to stand, this District Court order threatens Google Play’s ability to provide a safe and trusted user experience, thereby undermining the Android ecosystem’s ability to compete with Apple’s iOS,” Mulholland wrote. “This wouldn’t just hurt Google — this would have negative consequences for Android users, developers and device manufacturers who have built thriving businesses on Android.”

The injunction follows a victory by Epic Games in a monthslong jury trial last year. The jury ruled that Google’s billing services and its Google Play Store represented an illegal monopoly. Epic Games sued Google in 2020 after Google removed Epic’s hit game Fortnite from the Google Play Store after Epic hotfixed the game to bypass Google’s billing services.

In addition to opening up Android to third-party stores, the judge prohibited Google from sharing revenue or paying fees to companies that choose not to compete with Google’s Play Store on Android platforms.

The injunction will also prevent Google from requiring app developers to use Google Play Billing, and also prohibits Google from disallowing app developers to tell users about cheaper deals on their app stores or websites for digital goods.