Appeals Court Reaffirms 'Resounding Victory' for Apple vs Epic Games

In a ruling on Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that Apple's App Store does not violate antitrust law and agreed that Apple's anti-steering rules are anticompetitive.

Apple celebrated its victory with the following statement:

Today's decision reaffirms Apple's resounding victory in this case, with nine of 10 claims having been decided in Apple's favor. For the second time in two years, a federal court has ruled that Apple abides by antitrust laws at the state and federal levels.


The App Store continues to promote competition, drive innovation, and expand opportunity, and we're proud of its profound contributions to both users and developers around the world. We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling on the one remaining claim under state law and are considering further review.

After the ruling, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted:

"Apple prevailed at the 9th Circuit Court. Though the court upheld the ruling that Apple's restraints have "a substantial anticompetitive effect that harms consumers", they found we didn't prove our Sherman Act case."

"Fortunately, the court's positive decision rejecting Apple's anti-steering provisions frees iOS developers to send consumers to the web to do business with them directly there. We're working on next steps."


According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the district court did err on several issues but those errors were described as "harmless". It said that Epic also failed to establish "its proposed market definition" and the existence of "less restrictive alternative means for Apple to accomplish the procompetitive justifications supporting iOS's walled garden ecosystem."

"There is a lively and important debate about the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power," the ruling states. "Our job as a federal Court of Appeals, however, is not to resolve that debate — nor could we even attempt to do so."

Notably, Apple's App Store is still under various investigations for anticompetitive and monopolistic practices. In Europe, new legislation will soon require Apple to allow alternative app stores and sideloading on iPhone; however, the company is not expected to make these changes for users outside the EU.

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