US Court Of Appeals Upholds Original Ruling In The Epic Vs. Apple Antitrust Lawsuit
Apple and Epic Games have been battling it out in court for three long years now, but the latest ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seems to have landed a win for Apple.
In case you missed the previous rounds, here's a quick rundown: Epic Games updated a legal war between Apple and Epic, with Apple claiming its policies were for consumer protection and Epic arguing they were monopolistic.
Fast forward to the present, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the 2021 ruling that mostly favored Apple while also requiring the company to allow third-party purchasing options. The court found that Apple did not violate any antitrust laws, and Epic did not prove its "proposed market definition" or the existence of “less restrictive alternative means” for Apple's App Store.
The court did uphold the requirement that Apple must remove anti-steering rules that disallowed third-party purchasing options, but the injunction that paused that requirement is still in place and upheld by the court. Apple called the decision a “resounding victory,” while Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the anti-steering decision frees iOS developers to send consumers to outside websites and that his company is considering next steps in the case.
It looks like this legal battle may be coming to an end, but we'll have to wait and see if Epic has any more tricks up its sleeve. In the meantime, gamers can breathe a sigh of relief that Fortnite is still available on their mobile devices.
