SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Games, the Cary-based maker of “Fortnite” is asking a federal judge to award more than $205 million in legal fees after its landmark antitrust victory against Alphabet’s Google, marking other high-stakes turn in a yearslong legal fight that could reshape the mobile app marketplace.
Epic’s lawyers at Cravath, Swaine & Moore argued in a filing last week that the fee request is justified given the complexity of the case and the sweeping reforms their client secured. U.S. District Judge James Donato, who presided over the trial in San Francisco, has already ruled that Epic is entitled to recover its legal fees under federal antitrust law.
Epic first sued Google in August 2020, accusing it of illegally monopolizing how Android users access apps and pay for in-app transactions. After a lengthy trial, a jury sided with Epic in December 2023, finding that Google had unlawfully suppressed competition in its Play Store.
The ruling set the stage for Donato’s permanent injunction, issued on Oct. 7, 2024. The order requires Google to restore competition by allowing rival app stores to operate within Google Play and by making its app catalog available to competitors. Google sought to block the order, but Donato denied its request for a stay later that month.
In July 2025, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld both the jury verdict and Donato’s injunction, dealing a major setback to Google. The company has said it will pursue further appeals, potentially taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Epic’s latest filing comes amid that ongoing appeal. The company said its base request of $170 million should be adjusted to $205 million to account for inflation. While it did not disclose attorney billing rates or how the work was divided among Cravath and other firms, including Faegre Drinker, Epic said the firms discounted their standard rates.
Court records show that Gary Bornstein, co-head of Cravath’s litigation department and one of Epic’s lead lawyers, logged more than 3,800 hours on the case. Epic’s legal team argued the hours and fees were reasonable, pointing to the complexity of antitrust litigation and the scale of the results achieved.
Google has denied any wrongdoing throughout the case and has not commented on Epic’s latest fee request. Epic also declined to comment.
The outcome of the fee dispute could significantly add to Google’s costs as it navigates one of the most consequential antitrust rulings against a U.S. technology company in recent years.
