Epic has won again. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will not overturn the unanimous jury verdict from 2023 that Google’s app store and payments system have become illegal monopolies — and it appears to be pressing play on a previously paused permanent injunction that would crack open Android to undo those monopolies. “Total victory in the Epic v Google appeal!” tweeted Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.
Today, a three-judge panel affirmed the lower court’s decision in Epic v. Google, according to a full opinion you can read below — and Google will now appeal again, the company confirms to The Verge. It would likely appeal to the Supreme Court next.
Google will appeal. But the Google Play Store may not be protected from the consequences of its monopoly while Google tries to do so — it may need to start cracking open Android for third-party stores the way Judge James Donato ruled in his permanent injunction back in 2024.
Last October, Donato pressed pause on all but one specific piece of his ruling while Google appealed, but today, Judge McKeown writes “The stay motion on appeal is denied as moot in light of our decision” — and Epic has already announced it will put its own app store within Google’s app store.
“Thanks to the verdict, the Epic Games Store for Android will be coming to the Google Play Store!” Sweeney tweeted. “The stay is lifted,” Epic spokesperson Cat McCormack confirms to The Verge.
