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Late last year, Judge Donato ruled that Google was operating an illegal monopoly with the Play Store in its antitrust case against Epic, and Epic followed that up with a series of “remedies” that it was proposing to fix the issues. Google filed a response with the court in early May calling these remedies “excessive,” and just this week it posted an official response on its blog painting a picture of a “terrifying and chaotic” world that would befall Android users if these remedies were allowed to pass. “Only Epic benefits,” Google says.
The more important part of Google’s statement is that Epic’s proposed remedies will hurt Android users by putting their privacy and security at risk. The company’s reasoning does make a little bit of sense, except Judge Donato isn’t buying it. “I just don’t buy it,” Donato said in reference to Google’s horror story future that would come to pass if the remedies were made to the Play Store.
Judge Donato doesn’t agree with all of the antitrust remedies Epic proposed for Google
While Google’s claim of a terrifying world may be as dire and bleak as the company makes things out to be, that doesn’t mean Epic’s remedies are all getting the thumbs up. On the contrary. Donato doesn’t necessarily agree with all of them. In fact he doesn’t confirm that he agrees with any of them.
He calls some of them open-ended and too vague. But he also says that Google will have to make some changes. It’s still unclear what those changes are going to be, however. Donato does state that Google will have to pay some penalties for being a monopolist. Following that up by stating he’s not looking for relief that would only give a helping hand to Epic. “This case is about an opportunity to compete generally,” Donato said.
Donato also mentions that what the case is doing is leveling the playing field. It’s lifting the barriers so competition will be fair for all involved. It won’t be just Google holding all the cards. It won’t be just Epic gaining the lion’s share of the benefits from whatever remedies are imposed.
The case won’t be finalized till later this Summer
It seems like this case is coming to an end, but that isn’t quite true. Both Epic and Google have presented many of their arguments. However, final arguments are expected to be presented in August. So a decision from Donato on what Google has to do won’t come till later this Summer.
It’s unclear what Google’s penalties will be, but Donato did say some of Epic’s remedies were too vague. So there’s a good chance they will have to be revised before Donato makes a final decision.