(Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer
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Last year, the jury ruled against Google in a competition lawsuit
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The judge’s order incorporated Epic Games’ recommendations
(Added comment from Epic to paragraphs 6 and 7) by Mike Scarcella
A California federal judge has granted Google’s request to temporarily stay its order directing Alphabet unit GOOGL.O to overhaul its Android Play app store by Nov. 1 to give consumers more choices on how from which they download software.
San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge James Donato made the decision Friday in a competition lawsuit filed against Google by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games. Google argued that Donato’s Oct. 7 injunction would harm the company and introduce “serious security and privacy risks into the Android ecosystem.”
Mr. Donato delayed the injunction to allow the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to consider Google’s separate request to stay the judge’s order.
Mr. Donato rejected Google’s separate request to stay the injunction while the case is appealed.
“We are pleased with the district court’s decision to temporarily suspend implementation of the dangerous remedies requested by Epic, while the court of appeals considers our request to stay the remedies during the pendency of our appeal,” a Google said in a statement.
Epic called Donato’s ruling a procedural step and said the court “made clear that Google’s appeal lacked merit and rejected its request to delay opening Android devices to competition while the call is in progress”
Epic Games accused Google of using “scaremongering and unsubstantiated security threats to protect its control over Android devices and continue to charge exorbitant fees.”
In Epic Games’ lawsuit, a jury concluded last year that Google illegally monopolized how consumers download apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions. In his order, the judge adopted many of the steps Epic recommended in light of the jury’s decision.
The order requires Google to allow users to download competing third-party Android platforms or app stores in Play and to allow competing payment methods to be used in the app. It also prohibits Google from paying device makers to pre-install its app store and from sharing revenue generated by the Play store with other app distributors.
Google has already appealed the jury’s antitrust findings to the 9th Circuit.
Google did not present its competition arguments to the court of appeal. He has already stated that he cannot be considered a monopolist because Play and Apple’s App Store
AAPL.O are direct competitors, and that Mr. Donato’s injunction would illegally force Google to do business with its rivals.
