A U.S. judge has ordered Alphabet (GOOGL) to open its Google Play app store to competitors.
Judge James Donato in California has ruled that Alphabet must allow competitors’ apps to be downloaded on Android smartphones moving forward.
At the same time, Alphabet is also barred from paying companies to not compete with the Google Play app store.
The ruling is part of an antitrust lawsuit filed against Alphabet by Epic Games, a privately held video game developer that’s best known as the maker of the popular Fortnite title.
Epic Games had accused Alphabet of anticompetitive practices, including paying companies to not develop competing app stores.
For the next three years, Alphabet is also prevented from paying companies to launch apps exclusively on Google Play or paying companies to preinstall Google Play on smartphones.
Alphabet must also allow competing Android app stores to access Google Play’s catalogue of apps. The Google app store takes 15% to 30% of total sales for popular apps.
In a blog post, Alphabet said that it will appeal the judge’s ruling in the Epic Games case.
The stock of Alphabet has risen 18% over the last 12 months and is currently trading at $162.98 U.S. per share.
