Google files appeal in Epic case, set for February 2025

In losing the Epic lawsuit last December, a District Judge this October laid out a series of changes to Google Play. That was put on hold to allow the appeals process to play out, and Google today filed its opening brief to a higher court. 

Oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will take place on February 3. Google today detailed its case on why the “Liability Verdict Should Be Reversed.”

• “…the District Court allowed Epic to argue that Google and Apple do not compete in app distribution and in-app billing markets, even though Epic already fully litigated and lost that issue in its case against Apple.”

Google is also arguing that the “Injunction Should Be Vacated.” These are the series of changes that the District Judge imposed, including allowing third-party app stores in Google Play, catalog access, and more for a period of three years.

• “…it requires Google to build new infrastructure to provide new services to Google’s competitors, contravening a well-established antitrust principle: Businesses generally have no duty to deal with competitors, much less design new products to prop up their competitors”
• “… the District Court’s injunction exceeds the remedies Epic proposed, with no explanation for why this was necessary.”
• “The court also never explained why it is in the public interest to impose additional remedies beyond those agreed to by the attorneys general of all fifty States, the District of Columbia, and two territories.”
  • Context: In December of 2023, Google settled a lawsuit from states about the Play Store. It agreed to pay $700 million, simplify the sideloading process, and more.
• “And the court failed to grapple with the substantial security risks that linkouts, catalog access, and app-store distribution pose for millions of non-party consumers. Finally, the court disregarded the impact of catalog access on Play’s over half-million developers’ intellectual property interests.” 

Google shared “Key Excerpts,” while the full opening brief filed today can be read here.