The long legal battle that Epic Games and Apple are fighting in court over Fortnite’s restrictions on the App Store seems to have ended in the US Supreme Court. The move is the result of actions taken by lawyers for the owner of iOS, who are asking for a stay of a sentence allowing developers to offer means of payment that do not go through the structure of the store that owns the operating system.
Shop problem
The legal standoff between the two tech giants dates back to 2020, when Epic Games began offering an alternative means of paying Fornite V-Bucks that didn’t go through the App Store, avoiding the 30% operating system fees on all transactions. Shortly thereafter, the video game was removed from the store, and the company lost its licenses to publish content on iOS and macOS. Although the developer has suffered small defeats in court since then, they have achieved a big victory in 2021. purchases. In other words, limiting the means of payment to consumers is a violation of competition.
Apple took the decision to the Supreme Court
At the time of the announcement of the court decision, Apple prepared an appeal, with which the creator of the iPhone will take the dispute to the Supreme Court, considering that the US Court of Appeals exceeded its authority. Apple lawyers say the court erred in applying for a universal injunction against him, as the Fortnite creator represents an “individual creator” not acting on behalf of other developers.
In addition, they contend that the appellate court cannot grant a national injunction because the case concerns only the state of California. “The ruling raises important and far-reaching questions” about the limits on the power of a federal court to issue an injunction that applies to companies not directly involved in the case.
