Google Seeks to Overturn Epic Games Ruling

Google’s appeal of Epic v. Google begins today, with lawyers from both companies appearing before a jury in a federal appeals court in California. At stake is a historic ruling against Google that could force it to open up the Google Play Store to Epic and other rivals for three years.

“The Epic verdict missed the obvious: Apple and Android clearly compete,” a Google statement from October notes. “Android has helped expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps. The initial decision and the Epic-requested changes put that at risk and undercut Android’s ability to compete with Apple’s iOS.”

Google launched its appeal of Epic v. Games in November after asking U.S. District Court Judge James Donato to stay the injunction he had imposed during the remedy phase of the case. Donato agreed, effectively pausing Epic’s attempts to put its mobile app store on Android for the duration of the appeals process.

The appeal is being heard by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and a ruling on the appeal–which can then be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court–is expected later this year. This week, Google’s lawyers will attempt to convince the jury that Judge Donato’s remedy in the case is overly-broad and that the changes he ordered would “cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers.”

Epic is supported in its efforts to take on Google’s mobile app store monopoly by Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

“We will fight to ensure that the jury’s verdict and the court’s injunction are upheld and Google is held to account for its anticompetitive behavior,” an Epic Games statement notes.