Asia Tech Wire (Oct 14) -- Google has asked a California judge for a stay of execution of an order to open Android to third-party app stores.

In a court filing on Friday night, Google said the order would harm the company and introduce "serious safety, security, and privacy risks into the Android ecosystem," and asked for a stay pending an appeal.

The decision comes after U.S. District Judge James Donato issued a final ruling in a long-running antitrust lawsuit filed by game developer Epic Games against Google.

Donato ruled that Google must offer alternatives to its Google Play store for downloading apps on Android phones for three years starting this November.

Google will also be restricted from paying companies fees or sharing revenue in exchange for them dropping competition with the Google Play store.

In addition, Google must allow competing Android app stores to access Google Play's catalog of apps.