Immediately following the decision in Epic Games vs Apple hearing, Epic appealed and on Jan. 27 filed a lawsuit in support of the Epics battle, which included a coalition of 35 state attorneys general, Microsoft, and other companies. Epic Games vs Apple is currently in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with regard to Apple’s practices in the iOS App Store. Epic Games sued Apple in August 2020. The recent Fortnite lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple was backed by Epics in 35 states and other companies like Microsoft. This week, Epic Games’ legal campaign to give Apple almost absolute control of its iOS ecosystem was supported by 35 U.S. states, Microsoft, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, public citizens, and more than 50 academics, among others.
Epic Games has responded with antitrust lawsuits in the US, Europe, the UK, and Australia, the legal campaign is clearly seen as a way to weaken Apple’s grip on its iOS platform. The information comes in response to Fortnite creator Epic Games’ ongoing legal battle with Apple over the tech giants’ app store policies that began in 2020. In response, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store, which Epic immediately sued an in-game short called Nineteen-Eighty Fortnite parodying a 1984 Apples ad.
As Apple stated at the hearing, if Epic Games complies with applicable agreements and guidelines and continues to pay Apple IAP fees after the August 13, 2020 violation, Epic Games may return to the App Store under court supervision. Epic also filed another lawsuit on the same day, Epic Games v. Google, challenging a similar approach by Google on the Google Play Android app store after Google withdrew Fortnite after an update for similar reasons to Apple. “Epic’s denial of access to the Apple SDK and other development tools will prevent Epic from supporting Unreal Engine on iOS and macOS, and will allow Unreal Engine and those game creators to delay games 2020,”.Epic Games violated Apple’s iOS App Store policies by inviting players of its Fortnite game to purchase in-game currency and items directly from its website at a lower cost than Cupertino.
During the battle, Epic Games claimed that Apple had a monopoly on iOS apps and demanded changes that would effectively force Apple to reduce profits on all transactions made through the store. Epic Games won only one of its ten lawsuits: a court found that the anti-government clause of Apple’s Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA) violated California’s unfair competition laws. Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple began last year by announcing plans to roll out its in-app payment system in Fortnite to avoid paying Apple up to 30 percent. After a judge ruled in Apple’s favor and said its iOS app store is not a mobile monopoly, 35 U.S. states have come out in support of Epic, arguing that the ruling was wrong and should be overturned.
States argue that the district court wrongly stated that Part 1 of the Sherman Act, a cornerstone of U.S. antitrust law, does not apply to unilateral contracts, such as Apple’s terms for developers. It now appears that more than half of U.S. states, Microsoft, and many other groups that host amicus curiae memoirs (filed by non-parties, adding additional information that may be relevant) support Epic. , the company lost just one point in the initial decision because they thought Apple might also have a monopoly.
