Google Petitions the Supreme Court to Intervene in Epic Case

Epic Games has defeated Google at every stage of its antitrust lawsuit concerning the Google Play Store and Google’s control of the Android apps market. The clock is ticking, so the online giant is playing the only hand it has left: It has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and review the ruling that will otherwise force it to open up the Play Store to rivals, allow developers to use the in-app payment system of their choice, and make several other concessions.

“[Google] asks the Court to evaluate the lawfulness of an unprecedented antitrust injunction awarded at the request of a single, private plaintiff that will restructure the entire Android ecosystem, relied on by over 100 million U.S. users and over 500,000 app developers,” the Google filing reads. “The injunction exposes these users and developers to substantial new safety and security risks and compels Google to act as both supplier and distributor for its direct competitors. The Ninth Circuit’s decision affirming this injunction is on the wrong side of three different circuit splits and violates this Court’s twin commands that antitrust injunctions must avoid ‘mistaken condemnations of legitimate business arrangements’ and that antitrust courts ‘make for poor central planners and should never aspire to the role’.”

Google has asked the Supreme Court to grant it a stay so that it doesn’t have to meet its legal requirements while the Court reviews three aspects of the ruling against it:

• The District Court held Google liable for violating the Sherman Act’s Rule of Reason without requiring the jury to find that Google could “achieve its procompetitive goals by less restrictive means.”
• The District Court requires Google to “deal with Play competitors” to diminish Google’s competitive advantages even if Play’s advantages are not a “consequence” of Google’s anticompetitive conduct.
• The District Court is applying the remedies “to every developer and business partner nationwide,” and not just to Epic Games. “That ruling violates bedrock limitations on the constitutional powers of federal courts, breaks from three other circuits, and threatens to turn every private antitrust plaintiff in the Nation’s largest circuit into a de facto marketwide regulator.”

“Google seeks to stay only the portions of the injunction most likely to cause irreparable harm, including harm to millions of Android users and thousands of developers,” the filing continues. “Absent a stay, the injunction’s linkout provisions will take effect on Wednesday, October 22. As computer security experts, former national security officials, and industry experts have all warned, the mandated linkouts make it more likely that malicious actors—including foreign adversaries, scammers, and blackmailers—will be able to deceive Android users into sharing highly sensitive information. These bad actors can use that information to inflict irreparable financial harm and invade the intimate details of users’ online lives.”

Epic Games obviously disagrees with this line of action.

“Google continues to rely on flawed security claims that have been rejected by a jury of Americans and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect their control over Android devices,” an Epic Games statement reads. “The court’s injunction should go into effect as ordered so consumers and developers can benefit from competition, choices and lower prices.”