Judge orders Google to calculate costs of Epic’s biggest Play Store demand

But Judge Donato does examine them. He ordered Google to calculate the costs of meeting these requirements by June 24, a month from now:

Google will submit an offer by June 24, 2024 detailing the technical work required and economic costs, if any, to provide “catalog access” and “library porting” to competing app stores for a period of up to 6 years. See MDL Dkt. No. 952 on page 7. The offer may also address the technical work and economic costs associated with the distribution of third-party app stores through the Google Play Store.

MDL Dkt. Number 952 is Epic’s 16-page list of requests, and 7 is the page that would force Google to give other app stores have access to the entire Google Play app catalog, if Epic has its way. Take a look:

Just below “Catalog Access and Library Porting” is the other big question that Judge Donato appears to be considering: whether Google will offer other third-party app stores within its Google Play Store for six years.

According to the order, Epic will have the opportunity to question Google experts and engineers about the accuracy of their estimates and file a rebuttal before a final hearing on August 14. During an evidentiary hearing yesterday, Judge Donato seemed extremely skeptical of Google’s arguments against Epic’s proposed solutions, but also suggested that some of Epic’s requests were “open-ended and too vague.”