A U.S. judge said on Wednesday he was planning to issue an order that would force Alphabet’s Google to give Android users more ways to download apps but not micromanage the tech giant’s business, following a jury verdict for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games last year.
US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco spoke with technology experts and lawyers from Epic and Google about proposed reforms in the blockbuster antitrust case.
Donato showed impatience with Google’s protests about the cost and difficulty of implementing many of Epic’s proposals, and indicated he would issue an order that would provide maximum flexibility to users and developers to download and distribute apps outside of the Play Store.
“You’re going to have to pay something to put the world right after you’ve been found to be a monopolist,” Donato said.
He said his order would be about three pages long and would ensure Google “knows what the rules are.”
Donato said he would issue his decision in the coming weeks and would form a three-member compliance and technical committee to enforce and monitor the injunction.
“Google prevented competition for years and years. Now we’re opening the door and letting competitors in,” Donato said.
Google declined to comment, and Epic did not immediately respond to a request.
Epic’s lawsuit accuses Google of monopolizing the way consumers access apps on Android devices and pay for in-app transactions.
The Cary, North Carolina-based company is expected to win a lawsuit in December 2023 after a jury found that Google illegally stifled competition through its control over app distribution and payments.
Epic has requested Donato order Google to make it easier for Android users to download apps from third-party app stores like Epic and other internet sources. It also wants the court to prevent Google from automatically installing its Play Store on Android devices.
Google has denied harming competition, and told Donato that Epic’s proposals would make it “nearly impossible” for the Alphabet unit to compete and would harm consumer privacy and security.
Google lawyer Glenn Pomerantz told Donato on Wednesday that Google should not be forced to distribute its competitors’ app stores. “If you impose this obligation that you have to deal with on your competitor, it makes competition worse,” Pomerantz said.
Epic’s attorney, Gary Bornstein, urged the court to order Google to quickly implement its order.
Google is facing another challenge to its business practices in a separate government lawsuit in Washington DC that challenges the company’s dominant search engine.
Last week, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favour of the US Justice Department, saying Google had illegally monopolized web search, and was spending billions of dollars to become the internet’s default search engine. Google has denied these claims.
Mehta has scheduled a hearing on September 6 to discuss the timeline for the court to impose remedies on Google in the case.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
