Alphabet’s Google asked a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday to overturn a jury’s verdict and a judge’s order requiring it to revamp its Play app store.
In its first detailed oral argument before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Google said the trial judge made legal errors that unfairly benefited the plaintiff, Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite.”
The requirement for a “radical overhaul” of Google Play and its Android mobile device operating system will harm app developers and consumers, Google said in its filing.
Epic’s 2020 lawsuit accuses Google of monopolizing how consumers access apps on Android devices and how they pay for transactions within apps. Last year, the Cary, North Carolina-based company persuaded a San Francisco jury that Google had illegally stifled competition.
Based on the jury’s findings, U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered Google in October to allow users to download competing apps into Play and make Play’s app catalog available to those competitors , among other reforms.
The order, which would bind Google for three years, is on hold pending review by the 9th Circuit.
Google told the appeals court on Wednesday that Epic’s lawsuit should never have been heard by a jury because it sought to enjoin Google’s behavior, not seek damages. . According to Google, Mr. Donato unfairly allowed Epic to tell jurors that Google and Apple are not competitors in app distribution and in-app payments.
The complaint says Mr. Donato was wrong to issue an injunction affecting users and developers nationwide, not just Epic. Google said the injunction made Mr. Donato “a central planner responsible for the design of the product.”
The 9th Circuit said it will hear oral arguments on Feb. 3 and issue its decision sometime next year.
