A US judge issued a permanent injunction against Google on Monday, siding with rival Epic Games and ordering the internet giant to change the terms on its Play Store app platform to make it more competitive.
Google plans to appeal the ruling.
Judge James Donato, ruling for the Northern District of California, ruled that Google will not be allowed to require app developers to use the internet company’s own payment system in the Play Store from November 1.
In addition, developers must be able to inform users within the Google platform about where their apps are available outside the Play Store. Google is also not allowed to offer developers incentives not to bring their apps to competing app stores.
The rules only apply to the United States. In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (DMA) already has its own rules for large online platforms.
Google criticizes the conditions
Google could lose revenue in its US app business as a result of the decision. The internet company reiterated previous criticism that the conditions set by Epic would only benefit the gaming company but could harm users, app developers and device manufacturers.
Google has criticized the court, saying it views the Android smartphone industry as a separate market and does not take into account competition from Apple’s iPhone.
Rival app stores have been allowed on Android smartphones for a long time. However, in the Epic trial, jurors concluded that Google had used unfair means to make it difficult for them to do business. After the ruling, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney announced that the company would launch its own app store in Google’s Play Store in the US next year.
“Big news!”, Sweeney wrote on in Epic v Googling.”
The dispute has been going on for more than four years. In August 2020, Epic Games, the developer of the popular Fortnite game, sneaked a version of the game past Apple and Google into their app stores, where digital items could be purchased through another payment processor at no cost to the companies, unlike at the platform rules.
Apple and Google subsequently removed the Fortnite app from their download offerings. Epic could not convince Apple in a US court.
