Google faces another disadvantage in its lawsuit with Epic Games

Google on September 12 failed in its bid to persuade a US appeals court to continue to "freeze" an order forcing the company to make sweeping reforms to its Play app store.

The development comes as the company is appealing a decision in its lawsuit with Epic Games, the maker of the hit video game "Fortnite."

Specifically, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google's request to continue to suspend this order.

The order requires Google to restore competition by allowing users to download rival app stores within its Play store, making Play's app catalog available to those rivals, among other reforms.

The appeals court said Google had failed to meet strict standards to continue the stay. Google still has up to 10 months to comply with some key provisions of the order and 30 days for others.

In a separate decision, the appeals court said it would not review Google's appeal. Google's next move could be to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene.

In a statement, Google expressed disappointment with the ruling and said it was considering options for an appeal to the US Supreme Court. Google argued that the ban would fundamentally harm consumer security and privacy.

For his part, in a post on the social media platform X, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney praised the court's decision. The CEO affirmed that developers and consumers will soon benefit from the above ruling.

In the 2020 lawsuit, Epic accused Google of monopolizing how consumers access apps and pay for in-app transactions on Android devices.

In 2023, the company convinced a San Francisco jury that Google had illegally stifled competition. Based on the jury’s verdict, a judge there later issued an injunction requiring Google to reform the Play Store. Google has denied the allegations.

A San Francisco judge's order says Google must not ban in-app payments for three years and must allow users to download third-party Android app stores.

The order also restricts Google from paying device makers to pre-install its app store.

In a filing with the appeals court on August 8, Google argued that the order was "unprecedented" and would put Google and rival Apple on an unfair playing field.

Epic previously lost a similar lawsuit against Apple in 2020./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/google-gap-them-bat-loi-trong-vu-kien-voi-epic-games-post1061637.vnp