Google asks appeals court to reverse Epic Games’ antitrust case win

Google has asked a United States appeals court to toss a lower court’s ruling in Epic Games’ antitrust suit that would force it to allow third-party app stores and payment solutions through its app marketplace, Play Store.

The lower court decision was set to open Google’s app store and apps to other payment systems, including crypto-supporting ones.

However, Google argued in a 110-page filing to the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court on Nov. 27 that a California federal court judge’s decision “will directly undercut Google’s efforts to compete against Apple and the iPhone.”

The tech giant argued the judge should have realized Google competes with Apple on smartphones and should have mirrored the decision of the judge in Epic’s case against Apple, which found the iPhone maker didn’t violate antitrust laws.

It also argued Judge James Donato should have decided on the case himself and not have held a jury trial as Epic’s case against Apple didn’t have one, and the ruling forces it to compete with rival app stores, which Apple doesn’t have to do.

Epic separately sued Apple and Google in August 2020, accusing them of unfairly restricting apps on their app stores to using only their payment systems — which take a 30% cut of all purchases — and blocking apps from using outside systems.

Epic attempted to skirt Apple and Google’s fees by launching its own payment system in its app, which led to the two tech giants cutting Epic’s flagship game, Fortnite, from its app stores. It then sued both firms.

Apps distributed through Apple and Google’s app marketplaces don’t support payments in crypto, severely restricting the functionality of crypto-native apps like non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces, some of which function as little more than art galleries.

Judge Donato had ordered Google last month to drop its outside payments restriction for apps on its Play Store and allow developers to give options for users to download apps from outside of Google’s marketplace.

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It came after a jury found in December 2023 that Google violated antitrust laws by blocking rival app stores.

That ruling, and Judge Donato’s order, is now on hold, but the appeals court could choose to uphold his order while Google’s appeal plays out or put a pause on forcing the tech giant to make changes to its app store until it decides on an outcome.

Oral arguments are slated to be heard at the San Francisco-based court on Feb. 3, 2025.

Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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