By Mike Scarsella
(Reuters) – Google Inc has asked a federal judge in California to halt a sweeping court order requiring it to open its Play app store to greater competition.
In a lawsuit Friday night, Google said the injunction from U.S. District Judge James Donato, which takes effect on November 1, would harm the company and introduce “serious safety, security and privacy risks into the Android ecosystem.”
The tech giant, a unit of Alphabet (NASDAQ:), asked Donato to stay the matter while it pursues the appeal.
A judge issued an injunction on October 7 in a case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, which convinced a federal jury last year that Google illegally has a monopoly on how consumers download apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions.
The judge’s order said Google must allow users to download competing third-party Android app platforms or stores, and can no longer block the use of competing in-app payment methods. It also prevents Google from making payments to device makers to pre-install its app store and from sharing revenue generated by the Play Store with other app distributors.
If Donato rejects Google’s offer to suspend the injunction, the company could ask the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to do so while it appeals the jury’s underlying antitrust ruling.
Google filed its notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit on Thursday. The appeals court is ultimately expected to consider and rule on Google’s challenge to Donato’s order.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.