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The saga continues – following a more recent lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Google and Samsung, a judge has now issued a permanent injunction that mandates Google to offer alternative digital storefronts in lieu of the Google Play Store.
The court decision is the latest one of several earlier verdicts, with the ruling being issued by Judge James Donato in California. Part of the decision will require Google and Epic to form a three-person committee to oversee technical issues regarding Google’s compliance. The Mountain View company is also restricted from paying companies in order to reduce competition with the Play Store.
Starting in November, the filing prevents Google from performing certain actions for the next three years, starting in November. This includes:
- Paying companies to launch apps exclusively or first on Google Play
- Paying companies so they do not compete with Google Play
- Paying companies to preinstall Google Play on new devices
- Requiring app makers to use Google Play Billing, or prohibiting app makers from telling their users about cheaper online goods on their website
- Google will also have to permit competing Android app stores to access Google Play’s catalog of apps
- Google will have to carry third-party Android app stores on its Google Play app store.
Epic Games’ legal disputes against Google date back to 2020, after the former alleged that companies like Google and Apple were deliberately pulling moves to limit competition in the digital content space.
Source: CNBC
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