Latest News U.S. Supreme Court denies appeals by Apple and Epic to settle Antitrust Case -
On January 16, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeals brought by Apple and Epic Games regarding the antitrust lawsuit Epic has filed with Apple in the year 2020. Reuters reported.
In 2021 U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected most of Epic's arguments against Apple but she did decide for Epic's position against the practice of developers removing customers from Apple's network to buy digital items. In 2023, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with much of Judge Rogers 2021 ruling.
What Does Apple think? Apple Responds
The Associated Press reported that this lifts a hold on an order that gives devs the ability to use different payment methods. Apple has also submitted court papers on January 16, in which it outlines its plan for complying with the orders and still preserve the bulk of their charges.
AP said the court filing of Apple shows that they plan to:
- Developers can use hyperlinks to point to other websites however, Apple charges 12%-27 percentage commissions for transactions that are made using hyperlinks to sites that are external.
- Inform consumers via an "scare screen" after they click the link that will take the user to a different payment option, notifying them that Apple does not have any responsibility to those transactions in regards to security or privacy.
- Institute an approval procedure that AP claims is "potentially complex" before allowing externally-pointing links or buttons to be displayed within iPhone or iPad apps, citing Apple's "effort to prevent fraudulent actions, frauds, and confusion."
How Epic Games Is Insisting
AP said that the report that outlines the plans "provoked accusations that Apple may be acting in a fraudulent manner and set the stage for legal wrangling," apparently quoting Epic Games Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney's X (formerly known as Twitter) blog post in which he said "Apple submitted a false 'compliance scheme' to the District Court's order."
Sweeney continued to present an extensive list of "glaring problems we've found previously," concluding with " Epic plans to contest Apple's compliance program in bad faith before District Court" as well as the attachment of an image a "scare display" Apple has included in the Developer Support update on external purchase links.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sweeney had posted mixed views, and expressed his displeasure over the Supreme Court choosing not to look into appeals in this case was "A horrible outcome for all developer" as well as pointing out " developers can begin using their rights as judged by the court to warn US clients of lower prices online."
Further Epic Games v. Apple Case Developments
On Wednesday, January 17, Reuters reported that Apple had also requested a judge on Tuesday to make Epic Games pay them over $73 million in legal expenses and related expenses. Reuters reports that Apple's demand comes from "a previous court ruling that said Epic Games breached a contract with developers they signed back in 2010" wherein "Epic agreed to cover the costs of legal, losses, as well as the cost of any other violations."
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