Google asks US Supreme Court to freeze app store ruling in Epic Games case

Alphabet's Google said it has urged the US Supreme Court to halt key parts of a judge's order that would force major changes to its app store Play, as it prepares to appeal a decision in a lawsuit brought by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games. 

Google called the judge's order unprecedented, and said it would cause reputational harm and put the company at a competitive disadvantage if allowed to take effect, according to a filing provided late on Wednesday by Google, which said it had submitted it to the court. 

Epic sued Google in 2020, accusing it of monopolizing how consumers access apps on Android devices and pay for transactions within apps in violation of US antitrust law, and won a jury trial in San Francisco in 2023. 

 

The injunction issued in the case by US District Judge James Donato last year requires Google to allow users to download rival app stores within its Play store and make Play's app catalog available to competitors. It also compels Google to allow developers to include external links in apps, enabling users to bypass Google's billing system. 

Google in its Supreme Court filing said that the changes will have enormous consequences for more than 100 million US

Android users and 500,000 developers. It asked the court to decide by October 17 whether to put the order on hold. 

Google said it plans to file its appeal to the Supreme Court by October 27, which could allow the justices to take up the case during their nine-month term that begins on October 6. 

Epic did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The jury, siding with Epic in the trial, found that Google illegally stifled competition. Donato subsequently issued the order directing Google to make changes to its app store. 

Google has denied wrongdoing. 

In July, a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction, ruling that the record in Epic's lawsuit was "replete with evidence that Google's anticompetitive conduct entrenched its dominance."  The full 9th Circuit on September 12 declined Google's request to review the panel's decision. 

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, in a post on social media, praised the 9th Circuit's decision and said developers and consumers would soon benefit from it. 

Google faces other lawsuits from government, consumer and commercial plaintiffs challenging its search and advertising business practices.