Gaming giant and Fortnite-maker Epic Games has filed an appeal against a federal court’s ruling in the lawsuit it is involved in, against tech biggie Apple. The company has appealed to a higher court to re-examine the case and overturn the ruling that was served last Friday. The legal document reads that Epic has filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals, asking for a reconsideration of the judgment ruled on September 10, 2021.
The legal basis for the appeal has not yet been provided in the document, but it is expected that Epic will continue to pursue its antitrust allegations against Apple, that had been dismissed by the court on Friday.
Arguments Rejected by Court
Epic had argued that Apple holds a monopoly over the app store market, citing its actions directed at forcing app developers to rely on its payments system for all in-game transactions. However, federal judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers instead ruled that it is Epic Games that should be paying damages to Apple, on grounds of violating its in-app payment system policies. At the same time, she also directed Apple to discontinue forcing app makers into its App Store payments gateway, and allowing them the option to use alternate systems.
In her ruling, Judge Rogers had concluded that Epic had “failed to make the case” regarding Apple’s monopoly in the mobile gaming market. Saying that while the gaming company’s claims do show that Apple “is near the precipice of substantial market power,” the antitrust claims are unfounded, because Epic hasn’t really focused on the issue at all while delivering its argument.
A Major Blow Nonetheless
Apple has, up till now, been raking in significant revenues as part of the commission it demands from apps for every transaction they carry out through its App Store. The fees for the service could go as high as 30 percent, but Friday’s ruling seems to have delivered a major blow to the same. Apple has been prohibited from forcing developers to make use of its App Store payments gateway, something which could have far-reaching implications on its very function.
While this ruling is a win for app developers in general, Epic Games in particular doesn’t seem to keen on accepting it, presumably because it puts to waste all its efforts to get Apple to pay damages to it, by refuting its claims of antitrust behavior on the iPhone maker’s part.
