• Source:Reuters
Add as a preferred

Following a jury decision for "Fortnite" creator Epic Games last year, a US judge on Monday ordered Alphabet's Google to restructure its mobile app business to give Android consumers more options to download applications and to pay for transactions within them.

Google must make the adjustments listed in the injunction issued by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco in order to allow more competition in its profitable Play app store. This includes allowing Android apps to be downloaded from other sources.

Google was ordered by Donato to permit users to download rival third-party Android app stores and platforms, and to refrain from blocking the usage of in-app purchases for a period of three years.

Google is prohibited by the order from paying device manufacturers to preinstall its app store and from splitting Play store profits with rival app distributors.

READ: Epic Games To Sue Samsung And Google, Alleging Antitrust Violations Over App Store Monopoly

In a statement, Google said that it will petition the U.S. courts to halt Donato's decision while it files an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, where the verdict that resulted in the injunction is located.

"Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers," Google stated.

Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, stated in a Monday post on the social media site X that Donato's purchase was "big news" and that Google will soon support the Epic Games Store in addition to other app stores.

It will take three years, according to Sweeney, "to build a vibrant and competitive Android ecosystem with such critical mass that Google can't stop it." This includes developers of apps, stores, and other players.

In the wake of the decision, Alphabet's shares finished 2.5% lower on Monday at $164.39. Donato stated that in order to carry out and oversee the injunction, Epic and Google need to form a three-person technical committee. Google and Epic will each get to choose once, and together they will choose the third candidate.

Donato's judgement is set to take effect on November 1, allowing Google time to "bring its current agreements and practices into compliance."Epic launched a lawsuit against Google in 2020, alleging the company of regulating how Android users access apps and pay for in-app purchases.

Donato's judgement was made possible after the Cary, North Carolina-based company convinced a jury in December 2023 that Google had illegally suppressed competition by controlling app distribution and payments.

Google has pleaded with Donato to reject Epic's planned revisions, claiming they would be expensive, unduly restrictive, and detrimental to consumer security and privacy. In August, the judge heard arguments to the most of which he rejected.

"You'll have to pay something to put things right because you were discovered to be a monopolist," he informed Google's legal team.

On August 5, US District Judge Amit Mehta found in favour of the US Justice Department in a separate antitrust action in Washington, declaring that Google had unlawfully monopolised Web search by investing billions to become the internet's default search engine.

In September, Google started a federal trial in Virginia in response to a Justice Department lawsuit regarding its market dominance in the advertising technology space. In all three instances, Google has refuted the allegations.

Also In News