Apple is victorious again in its legal battle with Epic Games

As reported by Bloomberg, the North American Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supports a judge’s decision in 2021, which stated that Apple would not have violated federal antitrust laws by not allowing Epic Games titles on the iOS platform. This legal battle between Apple and Epic Games has been going on for a long time, since Epic will sue Apple in early August 2020 for an alleged violation of United States antitrust laws.

The reason was the withdrawal of Fortnite from the Apple Store platform and the cancellation of Epic’s development account, because the studio had allegedly circumvented the platform’s 30% fees. In 2021 a trial was held where a federal judge rejected the claim. Epic, as expected, appealed the ruling, although in the end most of the court has positioned itself in favor of Apple.

The court has stated that “There is a lively and important debate about the role they play in our economy and democracy, yet our job as a federal appeals court is not to resolve that debate. Instead, in this decision, we faithfully apply precedent existent to the facts”.

After this, the CEO of Epic, Tim Sweeney, has asked Apple to reactivate the developer accounts in Fornite, ensuring that they will comply with the guidelines established by the technological giant. The answer has been a resounding ”no”, at least until the entire legal process is over.