A US judge on Monday ordered Google to expose its Android smartphone operating system to competing app shops, in a fresh legal blow for the tech giant.
The order is the outcome of Google’s loss in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, where a jury in California determined that Google illegally had monopoly power through the Android Play store.
In December, a San Francisco jury found in favor of Google after only a few hours of deliberation, concluding that the firm had engaged in a number of illicit tactics to preserve its monopoly on the Android app store.
The order, which Google is appealing, follows a similar setback in August when a different judge found that Google’s world-leading search engine was also an illegal monopoly.
In a third federal case in Virginia, Google is also being sued for antitrust violations due to its dominance in internet advertising.
Google will not be allowed to carry out any of the various practices that the jury in the historic case found to be anticompetitive for the next three years under the terms of the Epic Games judgment.
These restrictions include the need that developers release their apps only through the Play Store and revenue sharing with possible rivals.
A three-person Technical Committee has also been mandated by the court to supervise the reforms’ implementation and settle any disagreements that may come up.
This injunction represents a significant challenge to Google’s dominance in the Android app ecosystem and could reshape the mobile app landscape in the coming years.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, urged businesses to take advantage of this chance “to build a vibrant and competitive Android ecosystem with such critical mass that Google can’t stop it.”
Not only will the reforms only apply to the US, he said, but he also promised that “the legal and regulatory battle will continue around the world.”
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