Google Asks Court to Throw Out Ruling in Antitrust Case

Google reportedly said in a Wednesday (Nov. 27) court filing that a judge’s ruling in an antitrust case brought by Epic Games should be thrown out.

The ruling contested by Google would force the tech giant to make changes to its Google Play app store, Bloomberg reported .

Google said in its filing that the judge should have recognized that it competes with Apple in the smartphone market, should have decided the case himself rather than holding a jury trial, and should not have required Google to do business with rival app stores, according to the report.

“This case involves an extraordinary attempt by a lone competitor to use the federal judiciary to restructure the day-to-day operations of Google’s app store, Google Play, and to unilaterally reshape markets with consequences for millions of non-parties,” Google said in the filing, per the report.

In a statement provided to Bloomberg, a spokeswoman for Epic Games said Google’s appeal is “meritless” and relies on “flawed arguments.”

“We will fight to ensure that the jury’s verdict and the court’s injunction are upheld and Google is held to account for its anticompetitive behavior,” the statement said, per the report.

Epic sued Google and Apple in August 2020, alleging that they blocked competition for rival app stores, according to the report.

In the case against Google, the jury decided in December 2023 that the company violated antitrust law by making revenue-sharing agreements with device makers that block rival app stores, the report said.

In October, the judge ordered Google to remedy these violations by allowing developers to create app marketplaces and offer consumers billing options outside of Google’s system, per the report.

It was reported in December 2023, after the jury’s verdict in the case, that the decision could put billions of dollars in revenue generated by Google’s app store at risk and that it could reshape the dynamics of the mobile app landscape, impacting both Google and the developers relying on its platform.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is scheduled to hear oral arguments regarding Google’s appeal on Feb. 3, according to Wednesday’s Bloomberg report.