Following its loss before the court against the Epic Games, Google has only a few weeks to make absolutely massive changes to the Play Store – and in fact, Android as a whole – despite the company’s objective to appeal the court’s decision.
The Epic vs Google trial rendered a verdict at the end of 2024, but Google immediately appealed this decision which was in favor of Epic. This week, this call ended again in favor of Epic, and this time, Google has no choice but to implement changes.
As reported by The penisThe court judged that Google must make a certain number of key changes to the Play Store and Android imminently, despite the fact that Google plans to appeal the court’s decision. Initially, Google was only given two weeks (14 days) to make changes, but the company has been granted An emergency stay earlier during the day that delays this until August 8, another week.
The complete verdict requires that Google do a lot Changes in Play Store’s policy and how the technology giant manages Android as a whole, but many of these changes will have no effect for a while. The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, quickly declared that the Epic Games store came to the Play store after the verdict of the court, but Google will in fact be required to do so to Eight monthsThis means that alternative application stores will not arrive at the Play Store before at least in 2026.
So, what changes are required in the immediate future?
The court injunction specifically indicates a handful of key points that decompose as follows:
- Google cannot share the income generated by the Play Store with Android OEMS and other partners, or require that the Play Store is preinstalled on Android devices or placed in a certain place
- Google cannot conclude offers for exclusive applications in the Play Store, or make offers to prevent applications from launching in third -party stores (including exclusive features)
- Android applications distributed via the Play Store cannot be required to use game billing and must allow third -party payment methods, as well as the communication of other payment methods. Google cannot oblige developers to change their prices to reflect the billing of the game.
- Android developers must be allowed to communicate prices and downloads outside Play Store, including links
- Google must work with Epic Games to resolve any dispute regarding the Play Store distributing third -party application stores
So, as mentioned, this does not mean that third -party application stores immediately arrive at the Play Store, but these changes will nevertheless have an impact. Google has until August 8 to implement changes, which means that we will quickly arrive on the launch of the company Pixel 10, because many of them take effect.
The complete list of points in the case (as indicated by The penis) Read as follows:
4. For a period of three years ending on November 1, 2027, Google cannot share the income generated by the Google Play Store with a person or an entity that distributes Android applications, or said that it will launch or plan to launch a platform or a distribution store for Android Applications.
5. For a three -year period ending on November 1, 2027, Google cannot condition a payment, a share of income or access to any Google product or service, on an agreement by an application developer to start an application first or exclusively in the Google Play Store.
6. For a period of three years ending on November 1, 2027, Google cannot condition a payment, a share of income or access to a Google product or service, on an agreement by an application developer not to be launched on an Android third party distribution platform or to store an version of an application which includes unused features, or is differently different from the version of the application offered on Google Play Store.
7. For a three -year period ending on November 1, 2027, Google cannot condition a payment, a share of income or access to any Google product or service, on an agreement with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to preinstall the Google Play Store on any specific location on an Android device.
9. For a period of three years ending on November 1, 2027, Google may not require the use of the billing of Google Play in applications distributed on Google Play Store, or prohibit the use of integrated payment methods other than the billing of Google Play. Google cannot prohibit a developer from communicating with users on the availability of a payment method other than Google Play Billing. Google may not require a developer to set a price according to the use of the billing of Google Play.
10. For a three -year period ending on November 1, 2027, Google cannot prohibit a developer from communicating with users of the availability or pricing of an application outside the Google Play Store, and may not prohibit a developer from providing a link to download the application outside the Google Play Store.
13. Within the thirty days of the date of this order, the parties will recommend the court a technical committee of three people. Epic and Google will each select a member of the technical committee, and these two members will select the third member. After the appointment by the court, the technical committee will examine disputes or problems relating to technology and processes required by previous provisions. If the technical committee cannot resolve a dispute or a problem, a party may request a resolution in court. The technical committee cannot extend any deadline established in this order, but may recommend that the court accepts or refuses a request to be extended. Each party will support the cost of compensation for its member of the committee appointed by the respective party for their work within the committee. The fees of the third member will be paid by the parties in equal parts.
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