Google has launched an appeal against a US legal ruling declaring its Play Store an illegal monopoly.
Having lost a case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, the search giant owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) argued in a San Francisco court on Monday that legal errors had been made in the previous judgment.
Google lawyer Jessica Ellsworth said the market had been defined differently than in a case around Apple Inc and that a jury should have decided the verdict.
Epic had filed separate antitrust lawsuits against Google and Apple on the same day in 2020 around their respective app stores.
Apple ultimately won its trial in 2021, before Google was hit with penalties as its Play Store was ruled an illegal monopoly in 2023.
“You can't just lose an issue that was fully litigated the first time and then pretend it didn't happen,” Ellsworth said in reference to the Apple case.
Danielle J. Forrest, one of three judges hearing the appeal, noted there were “clearly some factual differences between the Android world and Apple world,” though.
“Even if Google vigorously competes with Apple, that doesn't mean it can't create a different ecosystem where it's a monopolist,” judge Gabriel Sanchez added.
Epic also vowed to "fight" to uphold to previous ruling, with a decision on the appeal potentially set to be made this year.