SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Video games, the Cary-based maker of “Fortnite” is asking a federal decide to award greater than $205 million in authorized charges after its landmark antitrust victory towards Alphabet’s Google, marking different high-stakes flip in a yearslong authorized combat that might reshape the cell app market.
Epic’s legal professionals at Cravath, Swaine & Moore argued in a submitting final week that the payment request is justified given the complexity of the case and the sweeping reforms their consumer secured. U.S. District Choose James Donato, who presided over the trial in San Francisco, has already dominated that Epic is entitled to get better its authorized charges below federal antitrust regulation.
Epic first sued Google in August 2020, accusing it of illegally monopolizing how Android customers entry apps and pay for in-app transactions. After a prolonged trial, a jury sided with Epic in December 2023, discovering that Google had unlawfully suppressed competitors in its Play Retailer.
The ruling set the stage for Donato’s everlasting injunction, issued on Oct. 7, 2024. The order requires Google to revive competitors by permitting rival app shops to function inside Google Play and by making its app catalog obtainable to opponents. Google sought to dam the order, however Donato denied its request for a keep later that month.
In July 2025, the ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals unanimously upheld each the jury verdict and Donato’s injunction, dealing a serious setback to Google. The corporate has mentioned it should pursue additional appeals, probably taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom.
Epic’s newest submitting comes amid that ongoing enchantment. The corporate mentioned its base request of $170 million must be adjusted to $205 million to account for inflation. Whereas it didn’t disclose lawyer billing charges or how the work was divided amongst Cravath and different corporations, together with Faegre Drinker, Epic mentioned the corporations discounted their commonplace charges.
Courtroom data present that Gary Bornstein, co-head of Cravath’s litigation division and considered one of Epic’s lead legal professionals, logged greater than 3,800 hours on the case. Epic’s authorized group argued the hours and costs had been cheap, pointing to the complexity of antitrust litigation and the dimensions of the outcomes achieved.
Google has denied any wrongdoing all through the case and has not commented on Epic’s newest payment request. Epic additionally declined to remark.
The end result of the payment dispute might considerably add to Google’s prices because it navigates one of the crucial consequential antitrust rulings towards a U.S. know-how firm in recent times.
