Epic sued Google alleging the Play Store and Play Billing constitute an illegal monopoly over Android app distribution and in-app payments. A jury found Google liable on all counts in December 2023, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed a permanent injunction requiring Google to host rival app stores within Play and share its app catalog with them.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · JUL 15, 2026
Google and Epic jointly withdrew their proposed settlement modifying the injunction, allowing the original order requiring Google to host third-party app stores and share its catalog to take full effect, with rival Android app stores opening on Google Play on July 22, 2026.
BACKGROUND
Epic Games sued Google in August 2020 after Google removed Fortnite from the Play Store for bypassing Google Play Billing through a direct-payment mechanism Epic called Project Liberty. Epic alleged that Google’s control over Android app distribution and its tying of Play Store access to Google Play Billing violated the Sherman Act and California antitrust law. Epic sought only injunctive relief, no damages, aiming to force open the Android app ecosystem the way it had tried, and largely failed, to do against Apple in a parallel case decided by the same judge.
A jury in the Northern District of California found unanimously for Epic on every count in December 2023 after a multi-week trial before Judge James Donato. Because Epic sought no damages, the case moved to an extended remedies phase, and in October 2024 Donato entered a three-year nationwide permanent injunction requiring Google to let users download rival app stores within Play, to share the Play catalog with those rivals, and to stop paying device makers and developers to disfavor competing stores. Google appealed, and the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed both the verdict and the injunction on July 31, 2025, rejecting Google’s arguments on market definition, trial procedure, and the propriety of the remedy.
Google sought a stay from the Supreme Court, which allowed the order to take effect, and separately pursued certiorari. In late 2025, Epic and Google unexpectedly proposed a joint settlement that would have replaced parts of Donato’s injunction with a different fee and sideloading structure, prompting skepticism from the judge and a series of delayed hearings through the first half of 2026. On July 15, 2026, days before a scheduled evidentiary hearing and after a critical filing from the court’s independent economist, the parties jointly withdrew that settlement, leaving the original 2024 injunction as the governing order.
As a result, Google began hosting third-party Android app stores inside Google Play and sharing its app catalog with them in the United States starting July 22, 2026, ending the flat 30 percent commission model for a large share of Android transactions. The order for now applies only in the United States, while Google separately rolls out a global “Registered App Store” program.
TIMELINE
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JUL 22, 2026ENFORCEMENTRival app stores begin appearing inside Google Play in the USGoogle began carrying third-party Android app stores within the Play Store and sharing its US app catalog with them, implementing the full structural remedy required by the original injunction.
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JUL 15, 2026PROCEDURALEpic and Google jointly withdraw proposed settlementDays before a final evidentiary hearing, the parties withdrew their joint motion to modify the injunction, leaving the original October 2024 order as the governing remedy.
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JUL 12, 2026PROCEDURALCourt-appointed economist criticizes revised settlementIndependent economist Nancy Rose filed a declaration disputing the adequacy of the revised settlement shortly before a scheduled evidentiary hearing.
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NOV 2025PROCEDURALJudge Donato postpones approval of proposed settlementDonato expressed skepticism that the parties had shown changed circumstances justifying modification of the injunction, remarking that the main change was that former adversaries had become allies.
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NOV 2025SETTLEMENTEpic and Google announce proposed settlement modifying injunctionThe parties, alongside an announced $800M business partnership, jointly proposed a settlement that would have replaced key parts of the injunction with a tiered-fee, sideloading-based model.
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OCT 7, 2025PROCEDURALSupreme Court declines to fully stay injunctionThe U.S. Supreme Court allowed Judge Donato’s order to proceed, denying Google’s bid for a full stay while its appeal and certiorari petition were pending, though some provisions were phased to take effect only in 2026.
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JUL 31, 2025APPEALNinth Circuit affirms verdict and injunctionA unanimous Ninth Circuit panel led by Judge M. Margaret McKeown affirmed the jury verdict and the permanent injunction in full, rejecting Google’s challenges to market definition, trial procedure, and remedy scope.
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OCT 7, 2024JUDGMENTJudge Donato enters permanent injunction against GoogleThe district court entered a nationwide three-year permanent injunction requiring Google to host rival app stores within Play, share its app catalog with them, and stop paying developers or device makers to disfavor competing stores.
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DEC 11, 2023JUDGMENTJury finds Google liable on all countsThe jury unanimously found that Google had willfully maintained a monopoly over Android app distribution and in-app billing and had unlawfully tied Play Store access to Google Play Billing.
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NOV 6, 2023HEARINGJury trial begins in San FranciscoA multi-week jury trial opened before Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California, covering both Epic’s antitrust claims and Google’s counterclaims over Epic’s Project Liberty payment bypass.
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AUG 2020FILINGEpic sues Google after Fortnite removal from Play StoreEpic filed suit against Google alleging that Play Store distribution rules and mandatory use of Google Play Billing violated federal and California antitrust law, after Google removed Fortnite for circumventing its billing system.