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Epic Games has scored a decisive legal win against Google, as a federal appeals court upheld an order forcing the tech giant to dismantle key parts of its app store monopoly.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday affirmed a lower court ruling that Google must loosen its Play Store restrictions, clearing the way for rival marketplaces and alternative billing systems.
We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here.
The injunction, frozen during Google’s appeal, will now move forward, reshaping the Android app economy in Epic’s favor.
“It is well established that antitrust remedies can and often must proscribe otherwise lawful conduct to unwind and further prevent violators’ anticompetitive activity,” Judge Margaret McKeown wrote for the unanimous panel. She said the lower court had the authority to compel Google to work with those harmed by its conduct, including competitors like Epic.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wasted no time celebrating, posting on X that the ruling means the company will soon bring its Epic Game Store directly into Google Play. “Thanks to the verdict, the Epic Games Store for Android will be coming to the Google Play Store!” he wrote.
The battle began in 2020, when Epic openly challenged Google’s rules by slipping payment-bypassing code into Fortnite. Google responded by removing the game from the Play Store, triggering a lawsuit. At trial, a jury heard evidence that Google paid phone manufacturers and leading developers to exclusively use its store, a tactic that jurors decided was illegal monopolization of Android app distribution and in-app billing markets.
Judge James Donato’s 2024 permanent injunction struck at the core of those monopolies.
It compels Google to open Android to rival app stores, share the Play Store’s full catalog with them, and end policies like mandatory Google Play Billing. Those changes must remain in place for three years.
Google argued the case should have followed Epic’s failed 2021 lawsuit against Apple, but the appeals court rejected that view, pointing to stark differences between Apple’s closed ecosystem and Google’s licensed Android model. McKeown even likened the comparison to McDonald’s competing with Chick-fil-A in fast food, but not in the hamburger market.
While Google maintains that the changes will “significantly harm user safety” and weaken innovation, Epic’s legal victory marks a rare, high-profile antitrust defeat for one of the world’s most powerful tech companies. And it comes at a time when Google is facing a string of other monopoly challenges; over search, advertising, and more.
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Author: Dan Frieth
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