A judge has granted a short-term relief to Google which would have forced it to allow developers to set up rival marketplaces and billing systems on Android devices that compete with its Google Play Store.

US District Judge James Donato – the same judge who initially passed an order on October 7 instructing Google to lift restrictions on its Play Store – has now put his own ruling on hold until a federal appeals court in San Francisco issues its decision on Google’s separate request to overturn Donato’s ruling.

Donato’s October 7 injunction was issued during a case between Epic Games and Google, where Epic convinced a jury that Google abused its power in the Android app market with its Google Play store policies.

“We’re pleased with the district court’s decision to temporarily pause the implementation of dangerous remedies demanded by Epic, as the court of appeal considers our request to further pause the remedies while we appeal,” said a Google spokesperson after the temporary relief granted by Donato last week.

Donato denied Google’s request for a long-term stay on his order because he said the company failed to show it was “warranted, especially with respect to likelihood of success on the merits and the public interest,” according to Bloomberg.

Epic Games too noted that Donato’s temporary stay was only a “procedural step” that gives the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals time to rule. “Today the Court made it clear that Google’s appeal is meritless and rejected their request to delay opening up Android devices to competition while the appeal is ongoing,” said Epic Games.

 

Donato’s initial order required Google Play to also offer consumers billing options other than its own payment system. He had initially set a November 1 deadline to implement the changes.

The case between Epic and Google began in 2020 with Epic arguing that Google Play rules and fees stifled competition and blocked app marketplaces. In December, jurors agreed with Epic and found that Google had engaged in anticompetitive conduct, thereby harming Epic.

The Google Play business reportedly generated $14.66 billion (A$21.84 billion) in sales in 2020.

If the appeals court in San Francisco concurs with Donato and his order is reinstated, it could potentially cost Google hundreds of millions. “In a worst-case scenario this could be a 20-30 per cent drag on gross app store sales of around $50 billion (A$73.99 billion), mostly subscriptions, which could be a $1 billion (A$1.48 billion)-$1.5 billion (A$2.22 billion) drag on the company’s gross profit, based on our estimates,” said Mandeep Singh, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.