By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – A federal judge in California has granted Google’s request to temporarily pause its injunction and order its Alphabet (NASDAQ:) unit to overhaul its Android app store Play by Nov. 1 to give consumers more choice about how they download software.
San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge James Donato made the decision Friday as part of an antitrust lawsuit against Google by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games. Google argued that Donato’s Oct. 7 order would harm the company and “introduce serious safety, security and privacy risks into the Android ecosystem.”
Donato postponed the order so that the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals could consider Google’s separate request to pause the judge’s order.
Donato denied Google’s separate request to pause the injunction for the duration of the broader appeal in the case.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision to temporarily pause the implementation of dangerous fixes that Epic is demanding as the Court of Appeals considers our request to further pause the fixes while we appeal,” Google said in a statement declaration.
Epic, in a statement, called Donato’s ruling a procedural step, saying the court “made it clear that Google’s appeal is without merit and rejected their request to delay opening Android devices to competition while the appeal is pending.”
Epic accused Google of “using fear-mongering and baseless security threats to protect their control over Android devices and continuing to collect exorbitant fees.”
In the Epic Games lawsuit, a jury ruled last year that Google illegally monopolized how consumers download apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions. In his ruling, the judge embraced many of Epic’s recommended steps in light of the jury’s decision.
The order required Google to allow users to download competing third-party Android app platforms or stores into Play and to allow the use of competing in-app payment methods. It also banned Google from making payments to device makers to pre-install the app store and from sharing Play Store revenue with other app distributors.
Google has already appealed the jury’s antitrust findings to the 9th Circuit.
Google did not present its antitrust arguments to the appeals court. It has previously said that it cannot be considered a monopolist because Play and Apple’s (NASDAQ:) App Store are direct competitors, and that Donato’s order would unlawfully force Google to do business with rivals.
