“Sad result for all developers”: the US Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Epic Games and Apple
The US Supreme Court rejected the request for the consideration of the Epic Games case against Apple, an antimonopoly lawsuit regarding Apple’s practice in the Apple store.
According to Reuters, the Supreme Court has published a list of cases of consideration in court at the moment, as well as cases that he refused to consider. Two of them turned on the appeals from Apple and Epic Games. None of the judges indicated the reason for the refusal to consider both cases.
"The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of both sides in the antimonopoly case of EPIC against Apple", – Wrote the founder and general director of Epic Games Tim Suini in X/Twitter. "Judicial battle for opening iOS for competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. Sad result for all developers".
The legal enmity of Apple and Epic Games began in 2020 after EPIC has introduced a direct payment system into its popular free Fortnite game. The new payment system has led to a reduction in prices for V-Bucks, after which Apple (and Google) banned Fortnite and Epic Games in their App Store for violation of the policy regarding payment methods. EPIC filed a lawsuit to challenge the Apple (and Google) policy regarding applications, claiming that they violate antimonopoly legislation; Both technological companies filed a counterclaim against Epic.
In 2021, Judge Ivonna Gonzalez Rogers from the US District Court in the Northern District of California decided that Apple is not considered a monopolist. About two years later, the Ninth District Court of Appeal of the United States mainly confirmed the decision of the lower court. However, EPIC has achieved a certain success in court against Google: in December last year, the jury court ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the struggle for applications stores, and Google announced its plans to appeal the verdict.
Although Apple basically won a judicial battle, both decisions noted that Apple showed anti -competitive behavior, forbidding developers to inform users of the App Store about the availability of additional payment methods.
Perhaps the Apple will soon have to resolve alternative apps of apps on the iPhone in accordance with the EU Law on Digital Markets (DMA). While Apple is trying to appeal the decision, DMA will enter into force on March 7.