Epic vs Apple: US Supreme Court declines to hear appeals, ending legal battle،
Epic Games scored a victory last month in a long-running case against Google, with a federal jury declaring the Google Play Store a monopoly. Following this, the CEO of Epic Games said that Apple would be next. However, it seems that this is not the case after all.
According to Reuters, the Epic Games vs. Apple legal saga, which lasted over three years, is finally over – at least for now, as you'll see if you continue reading. The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the two companies' appeals, leaving the lower courts' earlier rulings standing.
In 2020, Epic launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, claiming it was playing the illegal monopoly game. The problem was that Apple was forcing people to grab apps from its App Store and purchase digital products using its own system. Oh, and Apple takes a cut, pocketing up to 30% commissions for in-app purchases.
Epic's legal team was unable to assign the antitrust label to Apple in lower courts. Nonetheless, the district court called out Apple for some not-so-cool actions, particularly anti-management tactics. Basically, Apple was called out for acting as a referee and preventing developers from informing users of other payment options.
In 2021, a court ordered Apple to address its anti-management practices. However, implementation was suspended during the appeal process. Now that the legal battle is over, Apple must comply with the court order. Essentially, this means allowing app developers to include links and buttons that guide users to alternative payment methods for in-app content.
Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic, said on X: “Starting today, developers can begin exercising their court-sanctioned right to inform US customers of the best prices on the web.“.
Apple quickly updated its App Store review guidelines, introducing a new section outlining the do's and don'ts of external payments for apps. It is important to note that these changes apply to the iPhone and iPad App Store and are applicable in the United States only.
Yet these new guidelines may not be set in stone. Sweeney has already announced that Epic will challenge them, arguing that Apple was not complying with the injunction in good faith. Looks like the Apple vs. Epic legal saga isn't ready to end yet. Keep an eye out for more updates!
