(Bloomberg) -- State attorneys general pushed back on a US judge’s doubts and urged him to approve a settlement in which Alphabet Inc. would pay $700 million to resolve antitrust claims that the Google Play app store abuses its market power.

A San Francisco federal judge had criticized the accord first disclosed in December, saying at a February hearing that it seemed to give short-shrift to millions of US consumers.

“The parties respectfully ask the court to approve this carefully negotiated compromise,” according to a filing late Wednesday by the attorneys general of California, North Carolina, Utah, Arizona and Tennessee. They said they hope the clarifications presented in the filing will assure the judge that the deal is “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

The company has been trying for three years to fend off complaints from dozens of state attorneys general that it used unlawful tactics to block competition and ensure that developers have no choice but to go through the Play Store to reach users. Alphabet also faces claims by consumers that it inflated Android app prices by taking as much as a 30% cut of Google Play transactions. 

US District Judge James Donato said in February that the proposal to pay $700 million to 127 million consumers would require them to release all legal claims involving the Google Play Store for seven years in exchange for as little as $2 each. Donato also said he didn’t see anything in the settlement addressing the service fees Google charges. 

“Right now I’m not saying it’s a bag of nothing, but it’s a bag of not great,” Donato said at the Feb. 26 hearing.

Read More: Google Play Judge Faults $700 Million Deal as ‘Bag of Not Great’

in Wednesday’s filing, the states defended the low average payout to consumers allegedly harmed by Google’s practices, given that most of them spent less than $60 total at Google Play. “Taking into account that group’s relatively small spend on the Play Store, this distribution is both fair and reasonable,” the attorneys general wrote.

The state officials also noted that the settlement calls for several changes to Play Store policies to reduce barriers to competition in the markets for app distribution and payment processing.

“In combination, these injunctive provisions allow competing app stores access to Android devices and give consumers a reason to use those competing app stores,” the attorneys general wrote in the filing. “Once consumers start using other app stores and billing systems, Google will be forced to compete on price, quality, or both, and those changes will redound to the benefit of consumers.”

The states pushed back on Donato’s concern that the settlement won’t lower the app store’s fees.

“The increase in competition should lower fees for consumers without making States act as price regulators for digital platforms, a function that is well outside of the expertise of state attorney generals,” according to the filing.

Google reiterated the statement it issued in December endorsing its accord with the states.

“This settlement builds on Android’s choice and flexibility, maintains strong security protections, and retains Google’s ability to compete with other OS makers, and invest in the Android ecosystem for users and developers,” the company said in a blog post.

Google in December lost a jury trial in an antitrust challenge to its app store business brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. Google and Epic haven’t agreed on a remedy in that case and Donato has set a hearing for May to hear from legal experts. 

The case is In Re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-02981, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

--With assistance from Leah Nylen.

(Updates with Google statement in 13th paragraph.)

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