Regarding the previous Apple and Epic GamesLitigation disputesThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled earlier that Apple did not violate the monopoly and therefore upheld the previous court ruling. However, Epic Games earlier appealed to the Supreme CourtSubmit a petition, hoping that the Supreme Court will review whether Apple’s App Store operation violates the monopoly.
This move will continue the litigation between Epic Games and Apple, and Apple may subsequently file a petition to question the part of the court's ruling that favors Epic Games, namely, the court's determination that Apple's practice of restricting developers from providing users with additional payment options affects fair competition.
The lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple stems from Epic Games' 2020 misconduct, which redirected players of the iOS version of Fortnite to an external payment page to prevent them from paying within the app. This resulted in Apple collecting a share of the fees as platform services. Apple alleges that Epic Games intentionally violated the App Store's Terms of Use, while Epic Games accuses Apple of violating fair competition and has even called on industry players to oppose Apple's actions.
If the court were to force Apple to allow apps to process payments through third-party payment gateways, it would impact Apple's existing revenue stream from in-app purchases. Consequently, Apple recently appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Apple's attorneys stated in their appeal documents that the court's ruling falls outside the scope of the lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games, as well as the jurisdiction of the lower court. Therefore, they hope to have the Supreme Court invalidate the lower court's ruling.
