Epic appeals monopoly ruling in Apple lawsuit

Epic lost on 9 of the 10 complaints in its lawsuit against Apple and will be appealing to a higher court over them.

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Last week, it was easy to look at one of the big verdicts that came out of the Epic Games v. Apple case and take away that it was a win on the major factor that Apple can no longer bar devs for including alternative payment methods in App Store apps. However, court is rarely ever so simple. Epic Games had a lot more grievances against Apple beyond that one that failed to garner a similarly favorable verdict, and so Epic will be appealing to a higher court in its ongoing legal battle with Apple.

Epic Games filed notice to appeal the overall ruling of its case with Apple over the weekend, as reported by AP News. In the original ruling, California court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that while Apple did operate in ways that were anti-competitive, it did not act in monopolistic ways. Judge Gonazales Rogers also found that Apple was lawful in its reasoning for removing Fortnite from its platform and punishing Epic Games for knowingly violating its ToS in an effort to goad Apple into the lawsuit.

While Apple not being able to bar developers from including alternative payment method in apps on the App Store is a big deal, Epic still lost a lot in the case, such as having Fortnite on iOS. These matters will likely come up in the appeal.
While Apple not being able to bar developers from including alternative payment method in apps on the App Store is a big deal, Epic still lost a lot in the case, such as having Fortnite on iOS. These matters will likely come up in the appeal.

There were other counts that Epic failed to garner a winning verdict for as well. Epic Games announced in its appeal notice that it would be appealing the final verdict and “all orders leading to or producing that judgment.” Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has been nothing short of heavily vocal on Twitter about his efforts for a supposed “fair” mobile developer platform on iOS and the App Store. Moreover, the ruling means that Apple doesn’t have to reinstate Epic Games’ developer account in the United States or allow Fortnite back into its market.

These will all likely be central to the overall appeal as Epic Games seeks judgement from a higher court in its legal battle against Apple. Stay tuned as we continue to follow the case for further updates and information.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

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