Aug 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday said he was

planning to issue an order forcing Alphabet's Google to give

Android users more ways to download apps, but would not

micromanage the tech giant's business, following a jury verdict

last year for "Fortnite" maker Epic Games.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco heard from

technology experts and lawyers for Epic and Google

about proposed reforms in the blockbuster antitrust case.

Donato showed impatience for Google's protests about the

costs and difficulty of implementing many of Epic's proposals,

and signaled he would issue a ruling that would maximize users'

and developers' flexibility to download and distribute apps

outside the Play store.

"You're going to end up paying something to make the world

right after having been found to be a monopolist," Donato said.

He said his injunction will be about three pages long and

will ensure Google knows what the "rules of the road are."

Donato said he will rule in the coming weeks and set up a

three-person compliance and technical committee to implement and

monitor the injunction.

"Google foreclosed competition for years and years and

years. We're opening the gate now and letting competitors come

in," Donato said.

Google declined to comment, and Epic did not immediately

respond to a request for one.

Epic's lawsuit accused Google of monopolizing how consumers

access apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app

transactions.

The Cary, North Carolina-based company persuaded a jury in

December 2023 that Google unlawfully stifled competition through

its controls over app distribution and payments.

Epic has asked Donato to require Google to make it easier

for Android users to download apps from third-party app stores,

such as Epic's, and from other internet sources. It also wants

the court to forbid Google from automatically installing its

Play store on Android devices.

Google has denied harming competition, and it told Donato

that Epic's proposals "would make it nearly impossible" for the

Alphabet unit to compete and harm consumer privacy and security.

Google lawyer Glenn Pomerantz told Donato on Wednesday that

Google should not be forced to distribute its rivals' app

stores. "Competition will be worse if you impose a duty that you

have to deal with your competitor," Pomerantz said.

Epic's lawyer Gary Bornstein urged the court to direct

Google to act quickly to implement his injunction.

Google faces another threat to its business practices in a

separate government lawsuit in Washington, D.C. challenging the

company's dominant search engine.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled for the U.S.

Justice Department and said Google had illegally monopolized web

search, spending billions to become the internet's default

search engine. Google has denied the claims.

Mehta has set a Sept. 6 hearing to discuss a timeline for

the court to impose remedies on Google in that case.