After Epic Games and Google settled last week following a years-long legal battle over predatory App Store practices, Judge James Donato has paused the settlement to ensure public transparency.
Last week, Epic Games and Google ended their legal battle by settling their differences in and out of the courtroom. Since August 2024, legal rulings have determined that Google has violated antitrust laws in accordance with the Sherman Act, with Judge Amit Mehta ruling, “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” The settlement agreement (which Google previously appealed) says Google agrees to lower its standard purchase fee to 9 or 20 percent, depending on the type of transaction done at checkout.
That’s not all. Judge Donato agreed to Epic Games’ demands and issued a permanent injunction, requiring Google to allow consumers to access rival app stores within the Google Play Store and to permit those marketplaces to sell the full catalogue of Google Play apps. The injunction also ordered Google to stop forcing developers to use Google Play Billing, after a court found the company had illegally tied its app store to its payment system. After years of legal battles, Google submitted a settlement proposal that met all of the court’s demands. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney praised Google for its “awesome proposal” in an official post on X.
Today, the settlement has hit another setback, and this time it’s not due to an appeal by Google or Epic Games. A report from 80Lv today says the agreement has been postponed. The overseeing Judge James Donato explained that the proposal may not meet the conditions required to modify an existing court ruling.
He notes that under US law, parties must demonstrate a significant change in circumstances (such as shifts in market conditions or company policy) for a modification to occur. Donato says, “The only changed circumstance that I can see right now is Epic and Google – two mortal enemies who pounded each other relentlessly in this courtroom for many years – are suddenly BFFs.” Judge Donato noted that Google’s previous appeals had delayed this ruling, which allowed the company to continue benefiting from “anti-competitive” practices as the appeals played out.
Epic Games and Google also made a request to keep the contents of the settlement under wraps, but Judge Donato rejected it, stating, “I don’t want to do this in the dark,” emphasizing the importance of transparency to the public and consumers. Although it appears the settlement between Google and Epic Games has been put on ice, both parties appear to want this years-long legal battle to end.
