The Epic v. Google case just took an interesting turn regarding the Play Store remedies Epic proposed months ago, as Judge Donato says the walls are coming down. Epic won its case against Google back in 2023 when Judge Donato ruled that Google had a monopoly over its Play Store app store. Following that ruling, Epic proposed several motions to clean up the situation. This included Google opening up the Play Store to allow competing app stores to exist in the Play Store ecosystem.

This open structure would allow users to decide where they get their apps and where their money goes when they have to pay for something. Google argues that this process would take too long and cost too much money. But Judge Donato doesn’t care.

In Judge Donato’s final remedial hearing on August 14, he said he would tear down the barriers. “We’re going to tear down the barriers, that’s the way it’s going to happen,” Donato said. Donato also stated that “today’s world is based on monopolistic behavior.” He further explained that things are changing. The reality for Google in this sense is that there’s nothing it can do to change Donato’s mind.

Judge Donato to rule on Google Play Store remedies by September

Although the final hearing on Google’s Play Store remedies took place today, Judge Donato has not yet made a final decision on what Google must do. The final decision will be made “in just over two weeks,” according to Donato. That means we should know what Google must do soon. Probably in the first week of September, since it’s exactly two weeks away.

Epic and Google also agreed at the August 14 hearing that opening the Play Store was feasible, but the companies disagreed on how long the process would take and what it would cost.

Epic and Google must set up a committee to settle the details

Now that Donato has made the remediation decision, his oversight of the entire process is essentially over. To a certain extent. Donato said he won’t micromanage Google’s compliance with remediation requests. Instead, it will be up to Google and Epic to set up a “technical compliance and oversight committee” to decide the specifics of the remediation plan after Donato decides how Google will fix the bugs. That committee will then “report back” every few months and go from there.

The committee will also consist of one representative each from Epic and Google, and a third representative will be appointed to be agreed upon by both companies.