US Supreme Court rejects Google's request to freeze parts of judge's order in Epic Games lawsuit

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt some parts of a judge's order requiring Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) (NASDAQ:GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) Google to make major changes to its app store Play, as the company prepares to appeal a decision in a lawsuit brought by Epic Games.

"The Supreme Court has thrown out Google's stay request. Starting October 22, developers will be legally entitled to steer US Google Play users to out-of-app payments without fees, scare screens, and friction - same as Apple App Store users in the US," said [https://x.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1975309212336238829] Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a post on X.

The justices rejected Google's request to temporarily freeze parts of the injunction won by Epic in its lawsuit alleging that Google monopolizes how users access apps on Android devices and pay for transactions within apps, Reuters reported [https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-supreme-court-allows-order-forcing-google-make-app-store-reforms-2025-10-06/].

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

In July, Google lost its appeal [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4475827-google-fails-to-win-appeal-against-fortnite-parent-epic-in-the-app-store-case-ruling] in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the lawsuit in which a judge previously ruled that the tech giant has to revamp its app store policies due to alleged anticompetitive practices.

The injunction issued last year by U.S. District Judge James Donato requires Google to allow users to download rival app stores within its Play store and make Play's app catalog available to competitors. These provisions do not take effect until July 2026, the report added.

Google said in a statement to the news agency that it was disappointed by the Supreme Court's order and it will continue its appeal.

In its Supreme Court filing, Google said the changes would have consequences for over 100 million U.S. Android users and 500,000 developers. Google said it intends to file a full appeal to the Supreme Court by Oct. 27, which could allow the justices to take up the case during their nine-month term that started on Monday, the report noted.

Google had appealed an antitrust ruling from December 2023 when the jury favored _Fortnite_ game maker Epic and said the company's Play app store is operating as an illegal monopoly. The jury had then found that Google monopolized the Android app distribution and payments market by charging app developers high fees of up to 30% and striking side deals with rivals to fend off competition.

In October 2024, Google said [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4156821-google-to-appeal-epic-games-verdict-to-show-apple-and-android-clearly-compete] it would appeal the court verdict ruled in favor of Epic and the tech giant asked courts to pause the remedies proposed by the online game store operator, which it alleged would hurt its ability to compete with rival Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]).

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