Before an effort to get the initial decision from last year overturned, the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games started today with attorneys from both businesses appearing in the United States Court of Appeals.
The Epic Games v. Apple legal battle began in 2020 when Epic Games started allowing Fortnite players to bypass the restrictions on in-app payments by making transactions directly within the app. The moment Apple abruptly removed the Fortnite app from the App Store, Epic Games prepared an antitrust complaint regarding Apple’s App Store policies.
Epic Games filed a lawsuit in an attempt to convince the court to let third-party app stores and other methods of downloading games for iOS devices, but it ultimately failed and had to submit an appeal. Even while Apple prevailed in the antitrust case, the court ordered that developers be permitted to include in-app connections to other websites where payments might be received.
The current legal dispute resulted from Apple’s refusal to modify the terms and conditions of the App Store and its appeal. Once more arguing for sideloading’s acceptance, Epic Games will claim that the court committed “several legal errors” in its earlier decision.
Apple claims that accusations of anticompetitive behaviour made against Epic Games during the trial were “unprecedented” and “unfounded,” which ultimately had no impact on the judge.
According to Apple, Epic made broad assertions that erred on the side of antitrust law, and there is no reason for the decision to be reversed on appeal. Apple will also claim that the initial court erred when it issued an injunction requiring improvements to the App Store.
Apple contends that the App Store guidelines are not unreasonable and that the district court lacked jurisdiction to order an injunction since it was not determined that it had engaged in anticompetitive activities. At 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the Epic Games v. Apple appeal will begin in the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. Those who are interested in watching can watch the appeal live on YouTube.
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