Google has asked the US Supreme Court to stay the injunction in its dispute with Epic Games and take the case for a full review. The company wants a stay until October 17, three days before the injunction is set to take effect, citing security risks and harm to developers and users.
Google has asked the US Supreme Court to stay the injunction in its dispute with Epic Games and take the case for a full review. The company wants a stay until October 17, three days before the injunction is set to take effect, citing security risks and harm to developers and users.
Engadget reports on the petition with reference to Google’s court filing.
In its appeal, the company asks to stop the implementation of the decision adopted after the defeat in October 2024, which requires Google to open Google Play to third-party app stores for at least three years. Separate clauses of the injunction also prohibit Google from entering into exclusive agreements to pre-install Play on smartphones and forcing developers to use its payment system.
Google claims that forcing the ecosystem to open up creates «significant security risks» because it could facilitate the emergence of stores with malicious or pirated content. Another claim is the additional burden on developers, who, it says, will be forced to «monitor dozens or hundreds of new platforms» where their applications could potentially appear without the knowledge of the rights holder. The company also believes that the proposed scheme makes it easier to evade payment for Play services that are not related to billing.
The Supreme Court appeal came after the Ninth Circuit rejected Google’s attempt to block the injunction. Now the company is asking the highest court not only to grant a stay, but also to take the case to trial on the merits. If the stay is not granted, the changes will take effect this month, and Android device manufacturers will have to adapt to the new rules for accessing Play and third-party stores.
Epic and Google have been at odds for more than four years. Unlike the Apple case, where Epic won only limited concessions, the Google case has seen the developer win almost all of its key claims. Last year, the Supreme Court denied both Apple and Google similar requests for urgent intervention, but the scale of the changes the injunction now requires to the Android ecosystem could prompt the court to consider Google’s case separately.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, withdrew its antitrust lawsuit against Samsung. The company stated that the parties reached an agreement, and Samsung agreed to take into account Epic’s comments regarding blocking third-party app stores.
