A federal judge ordered Google to remove steps that make installing rival Android app stores difficult, after Epic Games showed the court a live demo of the current process. The ruling adds to a nearly three-year-old antitrust case over Google's control of Android app distribution.
Judge James Donato ordered Google to make it easier to install rival app stores on Android, after Epic Games argued Google was still adding unnecessary steps to the process. The order came in a San Francisco courtroom one month after Epic and Google seemingly stopped fighting over the future of Android app distribution.
A live demo triggers the order
Epic's lawyer, Yonatan Even, showed the court how many steps it currently takes to install a rival app store on Android. He also demonstrated that searching Google's Play Store for the term "store for apps" surfaces no third-party app stores, only physical stores such as Walmart.
Judge Donato reacted directly to that result in court. According to The Verge: "That is not acceptable, that has to be fixed." He agreed some of the steps Epic showed amounted to unnecessary anticompetitive friction and ordered Google to remove them.
The case dates back nearly three years
The order builds on a fight that has run for nearly three years, since a jury unanimously decided that Google had an illegal monopoly over Android apps. Judge Donato later ruled that the best way to undo that monopoly was to open up Android app distribution.
That earlier ruling ordered Google to carry rival Android app stores inside its own Google Play Store and give rivals full access to its catalog of apps for several years. Epic and Google appeared to have set aside their dispute over that process last month, but returned to court today over how Google implemented it.
Source: The Verge
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
