As some of you know, Google lost in court in December 2023, in a trial that Epic kicked off. Following that, in October this year, a District Judge issued a number of changes that need to be made to Google Play. That was put on hold so that Google’s appeal could take place, and that just happened, as the company is appealing the app store monopoly verdict.
Google submits appeal over app store monopoly verdict
The appeal was sent to the US appeals court. Oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will take place on February 3 next year. Google did say why it thinks the “liability verdict should be reversed”.
The company said that “the District Court allowed Epic to argue that Google and Apple do not compete in app distribution and in-app billing markets, even though Epic already fully litigated and lost that issue in its case against Apple.”
Google also said that the “injunction should be vacated”. The company is referring to a series of changes that the District Judge imposed, including allowing third-party app stores in Google Play, catalog access, and a number of others over a period of three years.
Google issued a number of reasons why the verdict should be changed
The company said that all that “requires Google to build new infrastructure to provide new services to Google’s competitors, contravening a well-established antitrust principle: Businesses generally have no duty to deal with competitors, much less design new products to prop up their competitors.”
In the appeal, it was also added that “the District Court’s injunction exceeds the remedies Epic proposed, with no explanation for why this was necessary” and that “the court also never explained why it is in the public interest to impose additional remedies beyond those agreed to by the attorneys general of all fifty States, the District of Columbia, and two territories”.
In the quote above, Google is referring to the December 2023 case, in which it settled a lawsuit from states about the Google Play Store. The company agreed to pay $700 million and simplify the sideloading process, amongst other things.
On top of everything else, Google added that the “court failed to grapple with the substantial security risks that linkouts, catalog access, and app-store distribution pose for millions of non-party consumers”.
This saga will continue on February 3 next year, so get ready for that.
