Washington: Alphabet Google has lost a major legal battle in the United States against Epic Games, the Fortnite manufacturer.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, based in San Francisco, rejected Google’s attempt to cancel a decision that said that the company unjustly controlled how Android users get their applications and make payments. The company argued that the trial judge had made legal errors in the antitrust case which unjustly benefited the Fortnite Maker Epic Games, who filed the trial in 2020.
The court said that Google’s behavior had blocked competition and helped it stay at the top. The decision is a big victory for Epic, which fought to open the application stores and give users more choices.
The file of the Epic trial was “filled with evidence that Google’s anti -competitive conduct has rooted its domination,” wrote the circuit judge Mr. Margaret McKeown, joined by the Danielle Forrest and Gabriel Sanchez circuit judges.
The decision was a blow for Google while the technology giant faces prosecution on several fronts, including a case of the United States Ministry of Justice, alleging that different aspects of its company violate the antitrust law.
Epic in his case accused Google of monopolizing the way consumers access applications on Android devices and to pay for transactions in applications. The company based in Cary, in North Carolina, convinced a jury from San Francisco in 2023 that Google illegally smothered competition.
US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco ordered Google in October to restore competition by allowing users to download rival application stores in its play store and putting the Play applications catalog available to these competitors, among other reforms.
Donato’s order was pending pending the outcome of the 9th Appeal circuit. The court’s decision can be brought on appeal to the 9th complete circuit and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States.
In a statement, Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice-president of Google regulatory affairs, said that the court of appeal decision “would considerably harm user safety, to the limit and compromise of innovation which has always been at the heart of the Android ecosystem”.
The company said that it would continue to focus on “ensuring a secure platform while we continue our call”.
Epic CEO, Tim Sweeney, said in an article on social networks: “Thanks to the verdict, the epic play shop for Android will arrive on Google Play Store!”
Google told the Court of Appeal that the Play Store of the Technological Company is in competition with the Apple App Store and that Donato has unjustly prohibit Google from asserting this point to challenge EPIC antitrust complaints.
The technological company also argued that a jury should never have heard the EPIC trial because it was trying to ban the conduct of Google – a request normally decided by a judge – and not to receive damages.
The Appeal Committee said that Donato “had carried out an in -depth procedure before issuing the injunction and the support order”.
Epic defended the verdict and the court injunction, telling the judges of the 9th circuit that the Android applications market “suffered from anti -competitive behavior for a better decade”.
By the court of first instance and in the appeal, Epic challenged the arguments of Google that the modifications of its application ordered by the Tribunal to harm the confidentiality and security of the users.
Microsoft has filed a brief epic of support, as well as the United States Ministry of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Epic separately fight against Apple about an American judge order forcing the iPhone manufacturer to give the developers greater freedom to orient consumers to make purchases outside of his app store.
Apple appealed a decision which declared that it had violated a previous injunction in a legal action filed in EPIC in 2020.
