Google says opening its app store is expensive and too much work. Judge says: ‘We will break down the barriers’ — TradingView News

Judge James Donato spoke on Wednesday about the dismantling of the monopoly of Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGLE Google’s Android App Store in the ongoing case Epic v. Google.

What happened: Following a federal court jury’s unanimous decision eight months ago that Google’s Android Store constitutes an illegal monopoly in Epic v. Google, Judge Donato made his intentions clear during the final hearing on the appeals, The Verge reported.

Google argued that opening its store to competing stores would be too much work and cost, but Donato dismissed those claims. “We’re going to break down the barriers, that’s just how it’s going to happen,” he said.

He added: “Today’s world is the product of monopolistic behavior. This world is changing.” Donato will deliver his final verdict in just over two weeks.

See also: Google co-founder Eric Schmidt blames home working and flexible working hours for lagging behind OpenAI and praises Elon Musk’s leadership skills: “See what he gets out of people”

Although Epic won the jury trial last December, the judge is currently deciding how to remedy the damage caused by Google’s monopoly.

Epic has suggested that Google should be forced to allow competing businesses within its own Google platform. Play Store and give them access to all Google Play apps.

Both parties agreed that opening the Play Store was feasible, but they disagreed on the timing, the cost, and whether Google should be allowed to review every app in every competing store before adding it to Google Play.

Donato plans to ban any discriminatory behavior by Google against competing app stores, including human reviews.

He also proposed the establishment of a “Technical Compliance and Monitoring Committee” to oversee the technical details and report to the court every 90 days.

Why it is important: In an interview Epic Games Managing Director Tim Sweeney compared his company’s legal disputes with Google and Apple.

At the time, he said, “I would say Apple was ice and Google was fire,” adding that Apple’s “antitrust shenanigans” were limited to the corporate level, while Google’s practices were more outward-looking.

Sweney had also previously stated that the trial confirmed his suspicions about Google’s behind-the-scenes practices. “It was really, really interesting to see that my ideas about what Google was doing behind the scenes were actually true.”

Image via Shutterstock

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