Google Found Guilty: Epic Games Wins Lawsuit Alleging Illegal App Store Monopolies

OAKLAND, California – Three years after Epic Games sued Apple and Google for alleged illegal app store monopolies, Epic has come out victorious in its case against Google. The jury in Epic v. Google has found that Google turned its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly. After only a few hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously agreed that Google has monopoly power in the Android app distribution markets and in-app billing services markets. They also determined that Google engaged in anticompetitive behavior and that Epic was injured as a result.

As of now, it’s unclear what exactly Epic has won, as the judge will decide what the appropriate remedies might be. Epic is not seeking monetary damages, but rather wants the court to give app developers the freedom to introduce their own app stores and billing systems on Android. Judge James Donato has already stated that he will not grant Epic’s additional request for an anti-circumvention provision “just to be sure Google can’t reintroduce the same problems through some alternative creative solution.”

In addition, Judge Donato has no intention of deciding what percentage fee Google should charge for its products. Although Epic did not sue for damages, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney suggested that Epic stood to make hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars if it doesn’t have to pay Google’s fee.

It is quite likely that Google will appeal the case. We will update this story once we hear more. Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment.