In its lawsuit against Apple, Epic brings out the map of antitrust law


Nathan Le Gohlisse

Hardware Specialist

January 21, 2022 at 3:17 p.m.

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Fortnite © Epic Games

© EpicGames

Epic would have been wrong to deny it. In its lawsuit against Apple, Tim Sweeney’s firm returns to the fundamentals against the Cupertino giant: antitrust.

Succeeding in condemning Apple on the basis of the alleged monopoly allowed by its App Store: this is still Epic Games’ objective. The firm therefore returns to the charge with the antitrust argument, and this, while the American courts had previously ruled that the Apple application market could not be considered a monopoly.

As a reminder, Epic Games had indicated in September that it intended to appeal this decision, but it is only now that the group’s lawyers detail their arguments.

Epic vs Apple: second round on antitrust

Epic proved at trial that Apple is reorienting the market by contractually requiring developers to exclusively use Apple’s App Store to distribute apps and Apple’s IAP for payment for digital content in apps. ”, explains Epic in the documents filed with the court. ” If not overturned, the decision [du tribunal] would upset established principles of antitrust law and undermine antitrust policy “. ” Apple’s behavior is precisely what antitrust laws prohibit “, we read further.

It must be said that the conclusions of Judge Gonzalez Rogers (Court for the Northern District of California) were quite ambiguous, underlines The Verge. They almost sounded like a call for Epic to persevere.

Evidence suggests that Apple is close to the precipice of substantial market power, or monopoly, with its considerable market share “, she had estimated. ” Apple is only saved by the fact that its share is not higher, that competitors from related submarkets are making inroads into the mobile games submarket, and, perhaps, because[Epic] did not focus on this topic… “.

Apple is also appealing… for other reasons

Contacted by The Verge, an Apple spokeswoman commented on Epic’s statements. ” In its judgment last year, the district court confirmed that Apple has no monopoly in any significant market, and that its agreements with app developers are legal under antitrust laws. “. ” We are confident that the decisions challenged by Epic will be upheld on appeal. “.

Note that in September, Apple had also appealed the court decision against it in its lawsuit against Epic. The court had indeed forced the brand to review its copy on certain restrictions relating to in-app payments. A decision that Apple wants to reverse.

On the same subject :
Apple vs Epic: a reprieve for the update of the App Store … and a soap opera that never ends

Source: The Verge



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