Google asked a U.S. appeals court to block a judge’s order requiring Alphabet 
google As the tech giant prepares for a lengthy appeal in its antitrust battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games, the company plans to redesign its Play app store.
In a Wednesday night filing, Google told the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that U.S. District Judge James Donato on Oct. 7 will force the company to redesign its app store to promote competition. He asked that the order be suspended.
Mr. Donato is scheduled to hear arguments Friday over Google’s prior request to put his order on hold while the Ninth Circuit considers the jury’s antitrust findings in the case. be. Donato’s order is currently scheduled to go into effect on November 1st.
“This is a last ditch effort to protect Google’s control over Android and continue to charge exorbitant fees,” an Epic Games spokesperson said in a statement. “The court’s injunction must go into effect quickly so developers and consumers can benefit from competition in the mobile ecosystem.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the underlying lawsuit, Epic convinced a federal jury in December that Google illegally monopolized the distribution of Android software and controlled how users pay for content in the app.
Donato’s injunction orders Google from allowing users to download third-party app stores within Play, and from making Play’s library of more than 2 million apps available on rival stores. They are being asked to make a number of changes to their app businesses, including:
“The court gave Google just three weeks to make many of these sweeping changes, a daunting task that creates an unacceptable risk of safety and security flaws within the Android ecosystem.” Google’s lawyers said in the Court of Appeals on Thursday.
Google has added a high-profile appellate team, headed by Neil Katyal of Hogan Lovells, to handle appeals.
Epic nearly lost a parallel antitrust lawsuit it filed against Apple in 2020. Apple has had to make some changes to the App Store, and the company is still battling with Epic over the scope of its reforms.
The case is Epic Games v. Google, Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Numbers 24-6256 and 24-6274.
For Google: Neal Katyal and Jessica Ellsworth of Hogan Lovells. Glenn Pomerantz of Munger Tolles & Olson. Brian C. Rocca of Morgan Lewis & Bockius
For Epic: Christine Varney, Gary Bornstein, Yonatan Even of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
read more:
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US judge orders Google to open app store to competition
Epic Games slams Samsung and Google over plans to block app rivals
US judge says ‘monopoly’ Google cannot avoid app store reform
