an appeals court issued a ruling in the longstanding antitrust dispute between Apple y Epic Games for the Fortnite casereaffirming that the App Store complies with antitrust laws.
Many remember that Epic kicked off its battles against Apple and Google when it offered mobile Fortnite players a cheaper way to pay for in-game currency that bypassed the iOS and Android payment systems. Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their app stores and Epic responded with lawsuits against both companies.
as reported Bloombergquoted in Engadgetthe US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling, which rejected most of Epic’s claims that Apple violated federal competition law by banning alternative app stores on its devices. The three-judge panel also upheld a portion of the original ruling that was in favor of Epic.
The ruling maintains the status quo, unless further appeals take the case to a higher court. An additional wrinkle is the fact that Epic may now be on the hook for Apple’s legal fees, as Stephen Totillo of Axios .
NEWS: Largely status quo ruling from 9th Circuit in appeals of Epic v Apple
Epic still loses most counts. Apple still in violation of California law in terms of anti-steering (directing your app users to alternate payment methods)
But Epic may now have to pay Apple’s legal fees pic.twitter.com/0WAv0MetRy
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) April 24, 2023
The position of the companies
Apple told Engadget its position: “Today’s decision reaffirms Apple’s overwhelming victory in this case, with nine out of ten claims decided in Apple’s favor.. For the second time in two years, a federal court has ruled that Apple complies with state and federal antitrust laws.”.
“The App Store continues to promote competition, drive innovation, and expand opportunity. and we are proud of their profound contributions to both users and developers around the world. We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling on the only remaining claim under state law and are considering further review.l”.
Meanwhile, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney posted the following statement on his Twitter account.
Apple prevailed at the 9th Circuit Court. Though the court upheld the ruling that Apple’s restraints have “a substantial anticompetitive effect that harms consumers”, they found we didn’t prove our Sherman Act case.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 24, 2023
In a follow-up tweet, he said: “Fortunately, the court’s positive decision that struck down the provisions against Apple’s management frees up iOS developers to send consumers to the web to do business with them directly there. We are working on the next steps”.
In the original 2021 ruling, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that while Apple was preventing users from paying less for apps or in-app purchases, it was not running the App Store like a monopoly.