Google lost its antitrust case with Epic again

Google’s attempt to appeal the decision in Epic v. Google has failed. In a newly released opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to uphold the original Epic v. Google lawsuit that found that Google’s Play Store and payment systems are monopolies.

The decision means that Google will have to abide by the remedies of the original lawsuit, which limits the company’s ability to pay phone makers to preinstall the Play Store, prevents it from requiring developers to use its payment systems and forces it to open up Android to third-party app stores. Not only will Google have to allow third-party app stores to be downloaded from the Play Store, but it also has to give those app stores “catalog access” to all the apps currently in the Play Store so they can have a competitive offering.

In October 2024, Google won an administrative stay that put a pause on some of those restrictions pending the results of this Ninth Circuit case. “The stay motion on appeal is denied as moot in light of our decision,” Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who oversaw the case, writes.

“This decision will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem,” Lee-Anne Mullholand, Google’s Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, told Engadget. “Our top priority remains protecting our users, developers and partners, and maintaining a secure platform as we continue our appeal.” Google intends to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court.

The origin of the Epic v. Google lawsuit was Epic’s decision to circumvent Google’s payment system via a software update to Fortnite. When Google caught wind, it removed Fortnite from the Play Store and Epic sued. Epic pulled a similar gambit with Apple and the App Store, though was far less successful in winning concessions in that case — its major judicial success there has been preventing Apple from collecting fees from developers on purchases made using third-party payment systems.