US Judge Grants Google's Request To Pause Order On Play Store Revamp, Epic Games Terms It 'Procedural Step'

Epic Games said that the court “made it clear that Google’s appeal is meritless and rejected their request to delay opening up Android devices to competition while the appeal is ongoing.”

Judge Donato delayed the enforcement of the order to give the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals time to review Google's request to put the injunction on hold.

Source : Unsplash/Pawel Czerwinski ; Epic Games

A federal judge in California has granted Google's request to temporarily halt his previous order, which required the company to revamp its Play Store by November 1, allowing users more options for downloading software. US District Judge James Donato, based in San Francisco, made this decision on Friday in an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, the creator of "Fortnite." Google argued that the injunction issued on October 7 would cause harm and create "significant safety, security, and privacy risks" for the Android ecosystem.

Judge Donato delayed the enforcement of the order to give the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals time to review Google's request to put the injunction on hold. However, Donato denied Google's separate appeal to delay the order for the entire duration of the ongoing lawsuit.

Parties Respond

Following this decision, Google in a statement said, “We’re pleased with the District Court’s decision to temporarily pause the implementation of dangerous remedies demanded by Epic, as the Court of Appeal considers our request to further pause the remedies while we appeal.”

Epic Games on the other hand called Donato's ruling a procedural step and said that the court “made it clear that Google’s appeal is meritless and rejected their request to delay opening up Android devices to competition while the appeal is ongoing.”

Google's Monopoly Has Been Built On Fearmongering?

Epic Games accused Google of using “fearmongering and unsubstantiated security threats to protect their control over Android devices and continue extracting exorbitant fees.” In the Epic Games versus Google lawsuit, last year a jury found that Google had illegally monopolised the way in which consumers would download apps on Android devices and how they would pay for the in-app purchases. 

The judge in his order embraced a number of steps recommended by Epic Games in light of the jury's observation. 

The ruling mandated that Google permit users to access and download alternative third-party app stores within the Play Store and allow the use of different in-app payment systems. Additionally, it prohibited Google from paying device manufacturers to preinstall its app store and from sharing Play Store revenue with other app distributors.

Google has since filed an appeal against the jury's antitrust verdict with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.