• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, October 18, 2024

A federal judge has temporarily stayed the bulk of his earlier injunction requiring Google to revamp its Play Store.

The stay, issued Friday by U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in San Francisco, will remain in effect until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Google's request to lift the injunction.

The injunction -- which had been slated to take effect on November 1 -- includes provisions that would require Google Play to host third-party app stores, and prohibit the company from forcing developers to use its billing system for apps distributed by the Play Store. 

Google asked Donato on October 11 to stay the order for several reasons, including that it planned to appeal to the 9th Circuit.

On Wednesday, while Google's request to Donato was pending, the company asked the 9th Circuit to issue an emergency stay. As of Friday afternoon, the appellate court hasn't indicated how it will handle that request.

The injunction grew out of a battle dating to 2020, when Fortnite maker Epic Games accused Google of violating antitrust laws. Epic claimed that 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.

Google argued in its initial request for a stay that the jury's verdict 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.