Google (GOOGL.US) asks US appeals court to overturn antitrust ruling against app store

Alphabet(GOOGL.US) unit Google on Wednesday asked the U.S. appeals court to overturn a jury verdict and a judge's order forcing it to overhaul its Google Play app store. In its first detailed brief to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Google said the trial judge made a legal error that unfairly benefited the plaintiff, Fortnite maker Epic Games. Google said in court filings that a "comprehensive redesign" of Google Play and its mobile operating system Android would harm app developers and consumers. Epic said in a statement on Wednesday that Google's lawsuit was "flawed" and that the jury had rejected it. "This frivolous appeal is Google's last-ditch effort to avoid complying with the unanimous decision of the jury," Epic said. Epic sued Google in 2020, alleging it monopolized the way consumers access apps on Android devices and the way they make in-app payments. The company last year persuaded a San Francisco jury that Google had illegally stifled competition. Based on the jury's findings, U.S. District Judge James Donato in October ordered Google to allow users to download rival app stores from Google Play and to provide rivals with access to Google Play's app catalog and other reforms. The order will bind Google for three years and is now under review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Google on Wednesday told the appeals court that the jury shouldn't have heard Epic's lawsuit because it was trying to ban Google's behavior, not seek damages. Google said Donato unfairly allowed Epic to tell the jury that Google and Apple were not competitors in app distribution and in-app payments. The filing said Donato made a mistake by issuing the injunction, which affected users and developers nationwide, not just Epic. Google said the order made Donato a "central planner of product design." The Ninth Circuit said it would hear oral arguments on Feb. 3 and expects to issue a ruling later this year.