Google has asked a California federal judge to pause its sweeping court order requiring it to open up its Play app store to more competition.
In a court filing Friday night, Google said US District Judge James Donato’s order, which takes effect Nov. 1, would harm the company and introduce “serious safety, security and privacy risks to the Android ecosystem.”
The tech giant, a unit of Alphabet, has asked Donato to delay the order while the appeal is pending.
A judge issued the injunction on Oct. 7 in a case brought by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games, which convinced a federal jury last year that Google illegally monopolizes how users download apps to Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions.
The judge’s order states that Google must allow users to download competing platforms or third-party app stores for Android and can no longer prohibit the use of competing in-app payment methods. It also prohibits Google from paying device manufacturers to pre-install its app store and sharing revenue generated from the Play Store with other app distributors.
If Donato rejects Google’s offer to put the injunction on hold, the company can ask the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to do so while it appeals the jury’s underlying antitrust ruling.
Google filed a notice of appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday. The appeals court would eventually be expected to weigh and rule on Google’s challenge to Donat’s order.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)