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Latest News U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeals From Apple in addition Epic In Antitrust Case -

Jan 28, 2024

The 16th of January, on the 16th of January The U.S. Supreme Court denied requests to listen to appeals filed by Apple as well as Epic Games regarding the antitrust litigation Epic brought in 2020 against Apple at the end of 2020. Reuters reported.

In 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the bulk of Epic's argument against Apple however, she decided in Epic's favor regarding Apple's policy of not allowing developers to send customers off Apple's network to purchase digital goods. Then in 2023, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with much of Judge Rogers' 2021 decision.

What is the way Apple responds

According to Associated Press reported that this is a release of a court order giving developers the freedom to select different payment methods. Apple was also capable of filing court documents at the end of January in which it outlines its plans to adhere to the court's order but preserve the bulk of the fees.

AP said the court filing of Apple shows the company's plans to:

  • Developers can utilize links that point to other websites. However, Apple charges 12%-27 percentage commissions on transactions made via links to sites which are not external.
  • Inform consumers to use the "scare screen" in the event that they click on the link that directs the user to an alternative payment option and inform them that Apple cannot be held responsible for those transactions in regards to privacy or security.
  • Institute the approval procedure, which AP claims is "potentially complicated" prior to allowing externally-pointing links or buttons to show up in iPhone or iPad applications, citing Apple's "effort to prevent the possibility of fraud, scams and misinformation."

How Epic Games is Reacting

AP said that the report detailing the above-mentioned plans "provoked accusations that Apple behaves in a fraudulent manner and has set the stage for legal battles to come," apparently quoting Epic Games' chief executive Tim Sweeney's X (formerly known as Twitter) tweet which stated "Apple submitted a false 'compliance scheme' in order to secure an order from the District Court."

Sweeney then outlined a listing of "glaring difficulties we've identified in the past," concluding with " Epic is going to challenge Apple's compliance scheme in bad faith at District Court" and the upload of images of a "scare image" Apple has included in the Developer Support Update on external purchase links.

In the morning on Tuesday morning, Sweeney had posted mixed opinions, saying it was "unpleasant" to see there was no appeals to the Supreme Court choosing not to consider appeals in this instance was "A awful outcome for all developers" but pointing out that " developers can begin making use of their rights, as decided by the court. They can inform US customers about better prices when they shop online."

 Additional Epic Games v. Apple Case Developments

On the 17th day of January on the 17th of January, Reuters reported that Apple also asked the court on Tuesday for Epic Games pay them over $73 million in legal expenses and other costs. Reuters reports that Apple's demand is based on "a lower court's ruling that found that Epic Games violated a developer agreement signed by them in 2010," in which "Epic was required to pay for expenses for financial and legal loss and all other expenses arising from a violation."

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