Apple will have to face a new legal attack from Epic Games, which still considers the App Store system to be anti-competitive.
This is a story that is now several years old. Epic Games saw its game Fortine expelled from the App Store in August 2020 for wanting to set up an alternative payment method to that of the application store. A system which allowed him to no longer pay the commission of almost 30% taken by Apple on these purchases. Several years of legal tribulations followed, until last April when Apple was finally cleared of the accusation of anti-competitive practices. However, Epic Games is back at it again!
Head to the Supreme Court!
Epic Games is not giving up. The commission taken by Apple, ranging from 15 to 30% on purchases made through applications downloaded from the App Store, constitutes in its opinion an abuse of a dominant position that must be punished. And since the American Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had not followed it, the studio moved to the next level.
Indeed, Epic Games is now going to the United States Supreme Court and asking it to overturn the 2021 judgment, confirmed six months ago. As a reminder, the court, although it did not consider that the file showed a violation of antitrust rules, still saw in Apple’s policy ” a substantial anticompetitive effect that harms consumers “.
A result in the coming months
And we shouldn’t wait too long to find out if Epic Games has a chance this time to make itself heard. Indeed, according to Bloombergthe nine judges of the highest judicial body of the United States could announce whether or not they agree to take up the case before the end of the year.
If Apple has managed to get out of this cumbersome file over the last three years, the company has also taken into account the criticism of App Store commissions, brought by many other players than Epic Games.
The Cupertino company would thus be preparing to welcome third-party application stores on the App Store, within the framework of the Digital Markets Act. Furthermore, some countries such as South Korea have already forced the American company to authorize third-party payment systems. Are we moving towards long-term change?
Source : Engadget
3