US Judge Orders Google To Allow Android App Store Competition

A federal judge on Monday ordered Google to take wide-ranging measures to open up its Google Play app store, on Android following a legal challenge by Epic Games in 2020.

Judge James Donato said Google will have to distribute rival app stores on Google Play and must make the entire Google Play catalogue available to competitors, unless developers individually opt out.

The measures follow a jury trial that last December found in favour of Epic that Google’s Android app store and the Google Play billing service constituted an illegal monopoly.

The jury also found that many of the deals the Android maker had with companies including game developers and phone manufacturers were anticompetitive behaviour, and Donato said these will have to stop.

‘Tear the barriers down’

“We’re going to tear the barriers down, it’s just the way it’s going to happen,” Donato said in August amidst remedy hearings.

The ruling granted many of Epic’s remedy demands, rejecting Google’s arguments that they would be unduly burdensome, expensive or time-consuming.

But he said the measures must be in place for only three years, down from the six requested by Epic.

Donato also rejected Epic’s demand that Google allow users to sideload apps with a single tap, and that Google be barred from tying Android APIs to Google Play.

“The provisions are designed to level the playing field for the entry and growth of rivals, without burdening Google excessively,” Donato wrote in the ruling.

“As competition comes into play and the network effects that Google Play unfairly enjoys are abated, Google should not be unduly constrained as a competitor.”

Competition

The takes effect on 1 November and gives Google an initial eight months to come up with ways of implementing the ruling’s provisions, along with a three-person technical committee jointly chosen by Epic and Google.

The search, mobile and advertising giant had initially said it would take 12 to 16 months to create safeguards against malware in a more open system.

The ruling includes measures designed to prevent Google Play’s billing system from unfairly maintaining its dominance in Android apps, including banning Google from requiring the billing system to be distributed with Google Play Store apps and allowing Android developers to tell users about other ways to pay from within the Play Store.

Google is also banned from sharing app revenue with those who distribute Android apps or plan to launch an app store, offering developers money or perks to launch on the Play Store exclusively or first, offering developers incentives not to launch apps on rival stores, offering device makers or carriers incentives to preinstall the Play Store, and offering device makers or carriers incentives not to presintall rival stores.

Donato argued the rules would give rival app stores “a fighting chance of getting off the ground”.

Appeal

In response to the ruling, Google said the changes would cause “a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers”.

It said it was asking for a “pause” on the order and would appeal the ruling.

Epic sued Apple at the same time as Google and on similar grounds, but the court largely found in favour of Apple in that case.

The European Union is currently attempting to force Apple to open up its App Store to competition for smartphones within the bloc under new Digital Markets Act rules.