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A U.S. judge on Friday granted Google a delay in releasing Android-powered smartphones to rival app shops, but the tech giant has appealed the order.
Federal Judge James Donato’s ruling means Google will no longer have to meet a November 1 deadline to release its Android smartphone operating system to competing app stores.
A Google spokesperson said the tech giant is pleased with Donato’s decision to “temporarily halt implementation of the risky remedies Epic requested” while the appeals court considers a permanent injunction. said.
“These remedies threaten Google Play’s ability to provide a safe and secure experience, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for them,” the spokesperson added.
The order, issued earlier this month, comes after Google lost an antitrust lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, with a California jury finding that Google had no control over the Android Play Store. The court ruled that the company was exercising illegal monopoly power through
The order followed a similar setback in August when another judge found that Google’s world-class search engine was also an illegal monopoly.
Google is also facing antitrust action in a third federal case in Virginia over its online advertising monopoly.
Under Epic Games’ order, Google will be prohibited for the next three years from engaging in several practices deemed anticompetitive by the jury in the landmark case.
Mobile phones running on the Android operating system account for about 70 percent of the global smartphone market.
A significant portion of the app store’s revenue comes from video games, and Epic Games has long explored ways to take payments for mobile games like Fortnite outside of Google and Apple’s app stores, where fees can be as high as 30%. Ta.
Epic nearly lost a similar lawsuit against Apple, but in this case another U.S. judge ruled largely in favor of the iPhone maker.
Apple and Google regularly claim that app shop fees are industry standard and that they pay for benefits such as reach, transaction security, and malware prevention.
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