Google Seeks Emergency Stay Of Play Store Injunction

Google is seeking an emergency stay of a court order that would force the company to revamp its Play Store.

The injunction, issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in San Francisco, “requires a fundamental redesign of the Play store and Android ecosystem and impacts over a hundred million American consumers, more than a half million U.S. app developers, and countless Google business partners,” the company says in papers filed Friday.

“To comply with the court’s sweeping order to overhaul Google’s products, services, and contracts, Google must write new code, create new functionality, build new network infrastructure, extensively test all of the changes to avoid serious security problems, and fundamentally change its relationships with users, developers, [manufacturers] and carriers.”

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Donato's sweeping injunction includes provisions requiring Google Play to host third-party app stores, and would prohibit Google from requiring developers to use Google's billing system for apps distributed by the Play Store. Other provisions ban Google from paying manufacturers or carriers to preinstall the Play Store, and from paying developers from launching apps exclusively on the Play Store.

Unless stayed, the order will take effect November 1 and last for three years.

The injunction grows out of a battle dating to 2020, when Fortnite maker Epic Games accused Google of violating antitrust laws. Among other allegations, Epic said Google refused to allow developers who distributed apps through the Play Store to use non-Google payment systems, and that the company made it too difficult for Android users to download apps from sources other than the Play Store.

Last December, a jury sided against Google and found that the company created or maintained an illegal monopoly in two markets -- Android app distribution, and Android in-app billing. The verdict included a finding that Google wrongly tied companies' ability to distribute through the Play store to Google's payment system.

Google argues in its request for a stay that it plans to appeal the verdict, adding that there are “serious questions” about the merits of the jury's decision.

Among other arguments, Google says the jury veridict is inconsistent with a different federal judge's finding in a similar antitrust lawsuit by Epic against Apple. In that matter, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Epic failed to prove that Apple violated anti-monopoly laws. Rogers said in her ruling that Google and Apple Play compete with each other.

Google also says the case should have been decided by a judge, not a jury, because Epic wasn't seeking monetary damages.

“It is a fundamental principle that 'judges, not juries, determine equitable claims, such as requests for injunctions,'” Google argues, quoting from a 2015 Supreme Court decision.

“Epic’s complaints sought exclusively injunctive relief,” Google wrote. “Accordingly, this Court should have held a bench trial.”

Epic hasn't yet responded to Google's request.

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