The Supreme Court on Jan. 16, declined to review separate appeals in the long-running antitrust case between Apple and Epic Games, the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, leaving in place a lower court ruling requiring Apple to make changes to its iOS App Store rules and allow developers to steer customers to alternative payment methods.
The Supreme Court did not state why it declined to review the appeals.
However, the decision by the nation’s highest court allows the changes from earlier decisions to go into effect and means that Apple will now allow outside payment options on its U.S. App Store, and app makers selling to American customers can add links and buttons inside their apps that bring users out to a payment processing page, thus bypassing Apple’s own payment system.
Still, the iPhone maker said it would collect commissions ranging from 12 percent to 27 percent from developers that opt out of Apple’s own system to prevent them from “free-riding” on the software system that powers its iPhones and iPads.
The appeals stem from a lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Apple in August 2020 after it implemented its own direct payments method allowing users to download Fortnite’s virtual currency as an alternative to Apple’s in-app purchases.
Apple typically takes a 30 percent cut in commission for in-app purchases. As a result of Epic Games’ alternative payment option, the tech giant promptly pulled the game from the App Store, prompting Epic Games to file a lawsuit.
‘Basic Disagreement Over Money’
Apple countered that Epic Games had acted on its own accord to break the App Store agreements that it had signed, arguing that Epic Games had sought to avoid paying commission fees charged for in-app purchases by Apple.U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers later rejected most of Epic’s antitrust claims against Apple. However, the judge found that the tech giant violated California’s unfair competition law by banning developers from “steering” users to make digital purchases that bypass its in-app system and determined that Apple would have to loosen some rules on developers to avoid anti-steering.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely affirmed much of Judge Rogers’ decision in 2023, finding that Epic had “failed to prove the existence of substantially less restrictive alternatives” to Apple’s system.
‘Sad Outcome for All Developers’
Meanwhile Apple, in its own appeal, said the broad injunction imposed by Judge Rogers forcing Apple to allow developers to direct customers to alternative payment methods exceeds the constitutional authority of federal courts.Although the latest dismissal of appeals by the Supreme Court appears to have put an end to the legal challenge, Epic Games has yet to make it back onto the App Store.
“The Supreme Court denied both sides’ appeals of the Epic v. Apple antitrust case. The court battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers,” he said. “Now the District Court’s injunction against Apple’s anti-steering rule is in effect, and developers can include in their apps ‘buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to IAP,'” he continued.
Mr. Sweeney noted, however, that the ruling allows developers to begin exercising “their court-established right to tell U.S. customers about better prices on the web.”
“These awful Apple-mandated confusion screens are over and done forever. The fight goes on. Regulators are taking action and policymakers around the world are passing new laws to end Apple’s illegal anticompetitive app store practices. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act goes into effect March 7,” he concluded.
The Epoch Times has contacted an Apple spokesperson for further comment.
