SAN FRANCISCO — Google faced new legal challenges on Thursday as a federal judge started addressing claims of unfair practices in the Android app market.
The hearing, held in San Francisco before U.S. District Judge James Donato, follows a jury’s decision five months ago that found Google’s Play Store to be an illegal monopoly. This decision came after a trial initiated by Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite.”
At the hearing’s start, Donato instructed lawyers not to rehash the jury’s verdict and emphasized that the case is about general competition, not just benefiting Epic.
Epic is pushing for significant changes to how Google runs its Play Store, arguing that Google should allow other app stores to be available within the Play Store and distribute rival app stores directly to consumers. Epic believes this would help smaller competitors compete with Google’s dominant position.
Epic’s proposals, which might last six years, aim to prevent Google from automatically installing the Play Store on Android phones and to appoint a committee to oversee these changes. Google, however, claims these changes would harm the Play Store and its users, a point Donato seemed skeptical about, stating that Google’s fears of chaos are unsupported.
Judge Donato stressed that breaking antitrust laws means Google must fix the damage, even if it leads to a less-than-ideal situation for a while. Google’s Play Store makes billions through commissions on app transactions, a practice Epic and others criticize as exploitative.
Epic wants Judge Donato to ban practices that have allowed Google to suppress competition and to lower commissions, which could lead to more innovation. Donato did not rule on Thursday but scheduled closing arguments for August, giving Google 30 days to respond.
Meanwhile, Google is trying to limit disruptions to its Android system, following recent closing arguments in another antitrust case concerning its search engine. A decision in that case is expected later this year.
In a related settlement, Google agreed to pay $700 million and make concessions to increase competition. This includes payments to over 100 million consumers and lowering barriers for rival app stores. Epic, however, finds this settlement insufficient and seeks stricter measures to ensure better access for competing app stores.
