A federal district court in California ruled on April 10 to partially approve Epic Games' lawsuit alleging that Apple violated antitrust laws in the app market.
About the Origin of the Trial
The case originally arose from a dispute between Apple and Epic Games over a 30% commission on the App Store.
In August 2020, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit was protracted and grew into a major one involving "Sony," "Facebook," and "Netflix"," which were not directly involved.
The Ruling
The district court found Apple's terms to be "anti-competitive" and ordered Apple to relax its terms and allow inducements to external billing.
The court ruled that Apple may not restrict app developers from directing users to their sites via email or links, effectively making it easier for developers to avoid Apple's maximum 30% fee.
On the other hand, the court did not find Apple to be a "monopolist" and did not allow Epic Games to avoid the in-app fees that it had requested, so Epic Games has already announced its intention to appeal the ruling.
Epic Games introduced its own payment system in its app last August, which led to the removal of the app by Apple, and the company has decided to file a lawsuit.
Will it be reinstated in the AppStore?
Currently, neither the AppStore for iOS or Google Play for Android distribute Epic Games' Fortnite (Fortnite) on smartphone app platforms, and it is only available on Samsung Korea's Galaxy Store and China's Huawei's AppGallery only.
At one time, iPhones with Fortnite installed were sold at high prices, and we believe that there are many users who are waiting for the resumption of distribution on the AppStore.
We will keep a close eye on the dispute between the two companies and their activities in the future.