Google objects to Epic's proposed changes to Play Store policy

Google has filed its objections against Epic Games' recent call for the courts to enforce a variety of changes to policies regarding the Google Play store and its associated payment system.

Last month, Epic filed an injunction that would, among other things, allow third-party app stores to be distributed via Google Play for six years and enable users to port over their app libraries.

Reuters reported that Google is opposing this proposed injunction with its own filing, which lists out more than a dozen objections.

The company's key arguments include that Epic's changes "[do] not serve the public interest," that Epic is seeking remedies "to which it is not entitled," and that, if Epic's proposed changes were made, it would significantly damage Google's ability to compete in the mobile market.

"Rather than a judicial injunction against alleged violations of law, Epic asks this Court to create a new global regulatory regime that would set prices, impose ongoing duties to deal, and require the court to micromanage on an ongoing basis a highly complex and dynamic ecosystem that is used by billions of consumers and millions of app developers and that supports the business of hundreds of OEMs [Original Equipment Manufactuers] and carriers around the world," the company's legal counsel wrote in the filing.

"Epic’s proposed injunction would benefit Epic while harming other developers and OEMs by depriving them of choices and reducing competition for their business and while undermining the security and privacy of Android users."

Google also argued that a related settlement regarding the Play Store, one that had been endorsed by all 50 US states, involves remedies that "span nearly every topic covered by Epic’s proposed injunction and fully address the alleged anticompetitive conduct and effects that Epic presented to the jury at trial."

A hearing on the proposed injunction has been scheduled for Thursday, May 23.

The ongoing dispute between the two companies stems from the original Fortnite hotfix that enabled Epic Games to take direct payments for virtual currency without paying Google's 30% commission fee.

This legal battle escalated to a jury trial late last year, where the jury ruled in favour of Epic Games and declared that Google Play is an illegal monopoly.