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Apple To Take Epic Games To The Supreme Court

JJ Rankin | Jul 5, 12:58 PM | 5 min read

The long-running legal feud between Apple and Epic Games is headed to the Supreme Court in the United States. In a new bid to retain a cut of in-app sales, Apple is asking the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of Epic Games' anti-trust case that could force Apple to change payment practices in its App Store.

Apple Wants Supreme Court To Hear Their Case Against Epic Games

Apple is seeking Supreme Court appeal of the District Court and 9th Circuit court verdict that found its anti-steering policies illegal. Their policy censors developers who want to tell consumers about better deals on digital goods out-of-app.https://t.co/oRZBsXP5P1
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 4, 2023

In 2020, Epic launched a Fortnite update that allowed gamers to purchase in-game currency through a direct payment feature. The feature violated Apple's policy that required all iOS games to make purchases via the Store so Apple could keep a 30 percent cut of the profits. According to Reuters, Apple has filed a notice requesting a stay of a lower court injunction as it prepares to appeal a 2021 ruling on "anti-steering" practices that ordered Apple to let developers on the App Store use non-Apple payment options.

Following this, Apple removed Fortnite from its App Store. The judge's order said Apple could not prevent developers from providing links and buttons to payment options on their apps that take consumers outside of the App Store. Epic, in its appeal to the 9th Circuit, had sought to revive its antitrust claims against Apple. On Monday, Apple attorneys' filings said the 9th Circuit went too far with the nationwide injunction since it alleged that it violated a California state unfair competition law.

Apple said in its petition to the Supreme Court that it will raise "far-reaching and important" questions about the power of judges to issue broad injunctions. Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, said:

"Remarkably, Apple’s brief takes the position that even if their activities are illegal under California’s Unfair Competition Law, they should be free to enforce the illegal policy against all other developers besides Epic, forcing each dev to fight them in court separately!"

While this case will take a while before a hearing is held, gamers wait to see the conclusion of the Microsoft x Activision Blizzard acquisition that is due a verdict soon.