Google loses, and now Epic wants all the Play Store apps in its personal store

In a legal battle that could rewrite the rules of the game for app distribution platforms, Google finds itself faced with significant calls for reform of its Play Store. The case, presided over by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco, sees Fortnite maker Epic Games calling for more opening of the Android app market.

The result of the hearing

Epic Games urged Judge Donato to order Google to allow Android developers to offer to users multiple payment options without interference from the tech giant. Furthermore, Epic wants to introduce its own stores to the Android marketlike the Epic Games Store, without delays and barriers.

During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Donato heard expert testimony regarding Epic’s proposed changes and Google’s opposition to those changes. Donato expressed skepticism about the breadth of Epic’s proposed reforms, calling them “too vague and undefined”. He also stated that Google, described as an “illegal monopolist”, will have to suffer some kind of sanctions.

The case is still open

Epic convinced a jury last year that Google had illegally restricted competition by imposing restrictions on app downloads on Android devices and on payments to developers for in-app transactions. The company did not seek monetary damages, but sought a court injunction that might force Google to stop certain practices and to implement others.

Google described Epic’s proposed reforms as harmful and unjustified, urging Judge Donato to reject them. Google further argued that a sweeping injunction is not necessaryafter agreeing in a separate case to make some changes to its Play Store and pay $700 million in a settlement with states and consumers.

Judge Donato, who is overseeing both cases, has questioned the fairness of the settlement and is considering whether to approve it. He did not issue a ruling Thursday on Epic’s proposed injunction and expressed a desire to delve into additional technological issues that may emerge in his ruling. He scheduled closing arguments for a later date, possibly in August, and expressed his intent to issue his ruling “promptly.”

Play Store open to all

So, all things considered, Epic Games would have very specific requests to make to Google, requests that if approved could really upset the status quo. All of these are detectable on the documentpublished online, but in summary we have a couple of really interesting points.

Among the most obvious is a sort of clause in which Google could not take recourse against Epic Games once everything was closed, a sort of agreement to avoid future repercussions. What is astonishing, however, is that, according to these points, Google will have to provide third-party stores with access to the entire catalog of apps on the Play Store. Basically, it would be about being able to download all the apps that are on the Google store, even on stores like the Epic Games Store.

Obviously for Google these requests are excessive, and now it will be up to the judge to decide whether to support them in whole, in part or whether to send this document back to the sender to have a new one written.