{"id":641300,"date":"2023-04-25T10:06:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T15:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/25\/epic-games-loses-antitrust-appeal-in-its-battle-against-apples-walled-garden\/"},"modified":"2023-04-25T10:06:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T15:06:18","slug":"epic-games-loses-antitrust-appeal-in-its-battle-against-apples-walled-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/25\/epic-games-loses-antitrust-appeal-in-its-battle-against-apples-walled-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Games loses antitrust appeal in its battle against Apple&#8217;s walled garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/ethics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you\u00a0can\u00a0trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"why-it-matters\"><strong>A hot potato:<\/strong> Epic Games has suffered another setback as it loses its appeal against Apple&#8217;s &#8220;overbearing&#8221; App Store policies. A three-judge applet panel says that the lower courts were correct in their ruling that keeps Apple&#8217;s distribution platform mostly status quo. However, the across-the-board decision still leaves Cupertino having to allow external payment systems \u2013 an order Apple may still try to appeal. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Update (April 25):<\/strong> Shortly after publication an Epic Games spokesperson contacted TechSpot requesting we include a tweeted statement from CEO Tim Sweeney. The tweet follows:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-lazy-function=\"loadTwitter\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Fortunately, the court&#8217;s positive decision rejecting Apple&#8217;s anti-steering provisions frees iOS developers to send consumers to the web to do business with them directly there. We&#8217;re working on next steps.<\/p>\n<p> \u2013 Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimSweeneyEpic\/status\/1650592346176626709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sweeney&#8217;s comment seems to indicate Epic is working on an external platform for Fortnite or possibly other transactions. <\/p>\n<p>The original story follows below:<\/p>\n<p>The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an early decision that Apple has not violated competition laws by booting Fortnite from the App Store. In September 2021, the lower courts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/91201-epic-v-apple-epic-must-pay-apple-over.html\">ruled<\/a> in Apple&#8217;s favor in all but one of the 10 claims against it. The appellate panel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-04-24\/apple-app-store-policies-upheld-by-court-in-antitrust-challenge\">agreed<\/a> with the outcome, including the order that stated that Apple could not prevent developers from linking to payment options outside of iOS, which was a sizable win for Epic.<\/p>\n<p>The Ninth Circuit acknowledged that the debate about how online stores operate is essential but noted that its job was not to decide on the matter. Its focus was solely on whether the lower court came up with a just decision based on precedent, and in the panel&#8217;s opinion, it had.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is a lively and important debate about the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power,&#8221; the judges wrote in their ruling. &#8220;Our job as a federal court of appeals, however, is not to resolve that debate \u2013 nor could we even attempt to do so. Instead, in this decision, we faithfully applied existing precedent to the facts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j_500.webp 500w, https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j_1100.webp 1100w, https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j.webp 2400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 680px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"1350\" width=\"2400\" src=\"https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j_500.webp 500w, https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j_1100.webp 1100w, https:\/\/static.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2020\/09\/2020-09-16-image-22-j.webp 2400w\"  ><\/picture><\/p>\n<p>However, further appeals are still possible. Apple told Engadget that it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/apple-wins-appeals-court-ruling-against-epic-games-191331514.html\">considering<\/a> its options for getting the ruling forcing it to allow devs to use outside payment methods overturned.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s decision reaffirms Apple&#8217;s resounding victory in this case, with nine of ten claims having been decided in Apple&#8217;s favor,&#8221; a spokesperson said. &#8220;We respectfully disagree with the court&#8217;s ruling on the one remaining claim under state law and are considering further review.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Epic started the fight in 2020 by blatantly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/86370-epic-fights-against-exorbitant-app-store-fees-new.html\">violating<\/a> Apple&#8217;s guidelines in offering Fortnite players an alternative means of making in-game purchases. Apple responded as expected by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/86371-apple-removes-fortnite-app-store-over-epic-alternative.html\">kicking<\/a> the uber-popular battle royale game out of the App Store. Google <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/86376-epic-sues-google-after-fortnite-booted-play-store.html\">followed suit<\/a> shortly after, and despite the lawsuit&#8217;s status in the US, moods are shifting toward more open ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure from regulators outside the US might <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/95144-apple-joins-google-complying-south-korean-law-allowing.html\">bring<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/93995-apple-now-allows-reader-apps-link-their-own.html\">about<\/a> more change than Epic&#8217;s US lawsuit can. While US courts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/92170-court-shoots-down-apple-motion-delay-app-store.html\">eventually<\/a> approved Apple&#8217;s motion to delay lowering the App Store restrictions on external payment systems, heat from international regulators has forced it to relax those same policies. Recent rumors also indicate that Apple might even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/96962-apple-prepares-crack-open-ios-walled-garden-europe.html\">allow<\/a> sideloading in the next major update to iOS. Google has been placating overseas regulators similarly.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/98429-epic-games-loses-antitrust-appeal-battle-against-apple.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Michele Fleishman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you\u00a0can\u00a0trust. A hot potato: Epic Games has suffered another setback as it loses its appeal against Apple&#8217;s &#8220;overbearing&#8221; App Store policies. A three-judge applet panel says that the lower courts were correct in their ruling that keeps Apple&#8217;s distribution platform mostly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":641301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3291,1090,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-641300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-games","8":"category-loses","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}