'Total victory': US Court orders Google to open Play Store, Epic Games wins appeal

San Francisco: A US federal court on Thursday delivered a landmark ruling against Google, mandating that the internet giant must open its Android operating system to rival app stores. This decision comes after Google lost an appeal in a pivotal antitrust case initiated by Fortnite maker Epic Games, a verdict that now paves the way for the Epic Games shop to operate directly within the Google Play Store, circumventing Google's proprietary payment system and its associated commissions.

In her opinion, US Ninth Circuit Court Judge Margaret McKeown upheld the original verdict, stating that the initial ruling's parameters were "supported by the record and the nature of the market." Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney quickly celebrated the outcome, declaring in a post on X: "Total victory in the Epic v Google appeal!"

Google, however, has expressed strong disagreement with the ruling and plans to escalate its appeal to the US Supreme Court. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's global head of regulatory affairs, articulated the company's concerns in response to an AFP inquiry: "This decision will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem." She added that Google's "top priority remains protecting our users, developers and partners, and maintaining a secure platform as we continue our appeal."

Internet rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which filed a brief in the case, has been a staunch supporter of the ruling. The EFF argued that "competition rather than monopoly will make users safer" and criticised tech giants for offering what it called "'feudal security' in which users must depend on the whims of a monopolist to guarantee their safety." The group believes the judge's order promises to level the playing field for rival app stores on Android, including those potentially offering better vetting and curation policies.

The court order stems from Google's defeat in an antitrust case where a California jury concluded that Google wields illegal monopoly power through its Android Play Store. This legal battle mirrors a similar protracted dispute between Epic Games and Apple concerning its App Store. In both instances, Epic embedded secret code, dubbed "Project Liberty," into Fortnite's software, allowing players to bypass the tech giants' payment-processing systems and thereby avoid commissions of up to 30 per cent. Fortnite recently returned to Apple's App Store in the United States in May after being sidelined for years due to the ongoing legal conflict with the iPhone maker, although Apple is still appealing aspects of that case's outcome despite a judge ruling its App Store is not a monopoly.

With inputs from AFP