Epic Games Also Appeals And Asks US Supreme Court To Stop Letting Apple Prevent Purchases Beyond The App Store

The legal battle between Epic Games and Apple continues.

According to Reuters, Epic Games has filed a request with the US Supreme Court, seeking support for a previous court ruling that prevented Apple from blocking developers from directing users to payment systems outside the iOS ecosystem. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had recently paused the original injunction, and Epic Games now wants this pause lifted and the Supreme Court to uphold the 2021 decision.

The legal conflict between Epic and Apple began in 2020 when Epic Games allowed players to make purchases directly from the Fortnite app, bypassing Apple's 30% commission on in-app transactions. In response, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store, leading Epic Games to file an antitrust lawsuit. While Epic lost most of the antitrust claims in the District Court of California, it secured a win on the issue of anti-steering practices.

Apple has also appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the previous courts were wrong to apply a universal injunction affecting all developers and insisting that Epic Games is "an individual, non-representative plaintiff."