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Google says trial judge made legal errors in case

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Case goes before San Francisco-based appeals court

By Mike Scarcella

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Alphabet's

Google and "Fortnite" maker Epic Games are set to square off

before a U.S. appeals court in California on Monday, as Google

tries to undo a jury verdict and a judge's order forcing it to

revamp its app store.

Google has argued in court filings to the San

Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a trial

judge made legal errors in the antitrust case that unfairly

benefited Epic Games.

Epic accused Google in a 2020 lawsuit of monopolizing how

consumers access apps on Android devices and how they pay for

transactions within apps. The Cary, North Carolina-based company

convinced a San Francisco jury in 2023 that Google illegally

stifled competition.

U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered Google in October to

restore competition by allowing users to download rival app

stores within its Play store and by making Play's app catalog

available to those competitors, among other reforms.

The order is on hold as the 9th Circuit weighs Google's

appeal.

The tech giant has argued that its Play store competes

fiercely with Apple's ( AAPL ) App Store, and that Donato unfairly

allowed Epic to tell jurors that Google and Apple ( AAPL ) are

not competitors for app distribution and in-app payments.

Google also said in its appeal that Donato was wrong to

issue an order affecting users and developers nationwide, not

just Epic. It said the judge was acting as "a central planner

responsible for product design."

Epic has asked the 9th Circuit to reject those arguments and

accused Google of a "years-long strategy to suppress competition

among app stores and payment solutions."

In a statement, Epic said it will "fight to ensure that the

jury's verdict and the court's injunction are upheld and Google

is held to account for its anticompetitive behavior."

Microsoft ( MSFT ) filed a brief backing Epic, as did the

U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission.

The 9th Circuit could issue a ruling later in the year. Its

decision can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.