Google Opens the Google Play Catalogue to Third-Party App Stores in the United States: What This Means for Businesses

24.07.2026

From 22 July 2026, Google began providing third-party Android app stores in the United States with access to the Google Play catalogue under the Play Catalog Access programme. The change is being introduced in compliance with the court order issued in the Epic Games v Google case.

How the Case Developed

The legal dispute between Epic Games and Google began in 2020 and concerned Google Play Store’s monopolistic position and the mandatory 30% commission charged on in-app sales. In December 2023, the jury found in favour of Epic Games, and in October 2024, Judge James Donato issued a permanent injunction requiring Google to open the Play Store catalogue to third-party stores and prohibiting exclusive agreements. In August 2025, the Ninth Circuit upheld both the verdict and the permanent injunction, while the Supreme Court declined to block it.

The parties attempted to replace the terms of the permanent injunction with a negotiated settlement and, in March 2026, submitted an amended version of the agreement to the court. However, on 15 July 2026, Google and Epic jointly withdrew the document because the court was not prepared to approve it. As a result, the programme is being launched in compliance with the original injunction issued by Judge Donato in 2024.

The Play Catalog Access programme was officially launched on 22 July 2026. Information from the pages of apps and games distributed in the United States, including their names, icons, descriptions, screenshots and videos, is automatically made available to registered third-party app stores in the United States.

Key Changes

When an app is downloaded through a third-party store, the download is processed through Google Play’s infrastructure on the same terms as a direct download from Google Play. Google Play’s commission remains applicable.

A developer may restrict its apps’ participation in the programme through Play Console, under the “Catalog settings” subsection of the “Settings” section.

Three options are available:

• publish all pages;
• manage each third-party store’s access separately;
• not publish any pages.

If a developer has not selected any of these options, Google will, by default, publish its listings in third-party stores from 22 July 2026.

Participation is subject to fees for third-party stores: a one-off fee of USD 5,000 for the security review conducted during onboarding and an annual fee of USD 5,000 to maintain access to the catalogue.

A store may provide access to the catalogue only to users in the United States.

A key issue concerns content moderation rules

Google Play’s rules, including those relating to prohibited content and the protection of intellectual property, do not apply to third-party app stores. Each registered store may have its own rules and complaint-handling procedures.

Formally, each participant in the programme must maintain a publicly accessible page containing information on its procedure for resolving intellectual property disputes, as well as a public link to its intellectual property rules, which must be similar to those of Google Play. However, the actual quality and speed with which this obligation is fulfilled will depend on each individual store.

Is Your App Already Distributed Through Google Play?

What This Means for Businesses

The change directly affects companies that have previously encountered the cloning of their mobile apps and games or the unauthorised copying of their app listings.

Submitting a complaint solely to Google Play is no longer a sufficient protective measure, as a copy of an app that infringes third-party rights may now be distributed simultaneously through several independent platforms, each with different rules and complaint-handling timeframes.

REVERA’s Recommendations

1. Review and, where necessary, adjust the publication settings in the “Catalog settings” subsection of the “Settings” section in Play Console to prevent app listings from being automatically distributed through third-party stores without the rightsholder’s express consent.
2. Expand the scope of intellectual property monitoring beyond Google Play to include third-party app stores registered under the Play Catalog Access programme.
3. Prepare template intellectual property complaints in advance, taking into account that each third-party store may have its own complaint-submission procedure, which may differ from Google’s standard DMCA procedure.
4. Monitor further developments relating to the Play Catalog Access programme, as Google plans to publish additional technical requirements for the integration of third-party stores with the Play infrastructure in the coming weeks.

The REVERA Arbitration & IT Disputes team is ready to assess the risks that the launch of Play Catalog Access may create for your product or app store and to adapt your intellectual property protection strategy to reflect the new app distribution channels.

 

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Author: Kamal Tserakhau, Aliaksandr Struzhko, Hleb Shumilau and Stanislav Tarmola

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