U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Epic vs Apple Appeals

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals from Epic and Apple in the long running Epic vs Apple lawsuit. This effectively gives Apple the big win, as lower courts ruled the App Store does not violate antitrust law; however, it also upholds a ruling that Apple's anti-steering rules are anticompetitive.

Back in 2020, Epic Games attempted to offer its Fortnite players the option to purchase V-Bucks and real-money directly at a 20% discount. This payment method wouldn't allow Apple to collect a 30% cut. Fortnite was promptly removed from the App Store. Epic Games then filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of anti-competitive restraints and monopolistic practices.

The judge sided with Apple on all accounts except one, issuing a permanent injunction that says Apple must allow developers to link outside payment methods and communicate with their customers.


The case then went to appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling.

Both company's appealed to the Supreme Court which allowed Apple to postpone changes to its App Store anti-steering rules. Now that the Supreme Court has decided not to take on the case, those rules must be amended to comply with the lower courts decision.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney addressed the development on X today...

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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.

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".

As of today, developers can begin exercising their court-established right to tell US 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 and anticompetitive app store practices. The European Union's Digital Markets Act goes into effect March 7.
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Apple has yet to issue a statement on the case. Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for further updates.