Epic believes that the judge in charge of its lawsuit against Apple made several miscarriages of justice.
The legal imbroglio between Epic Games and Apple never ends. The development studio today accuses the judge in charge of the antitrust investigation which opposes it to Apple since last year, of having made “too many errors”. A new twist, which comes as the two parties announced their desire to appeal the court decision last September.
Epic appeals
The creator of Fortnite is therefore the first to bring out the weapons: in her appeal, the studio believes that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers has committed several errors in judgment about Apple. And unsurprisingly, the plaintiff uses the same arguments as those already advanced during the initial trial. For the development studio, Apple uses its commission and the heavy restrictions of its App Store to weaken third-party developers, and make profit on the backs of users.
Like more and more developers, Epic now hopes to return to iOS on its own. Banned from the App Store for having tried to circumvent the payment systems of the American company, the studio assures today that its competing store would offer more varied alternative payment solutions, as well as a commission much lower than that of 15 to 30% currently levied by Apple on each transaction. For Epic Games: “Apple is preventing Epic and other potential competitors from offering these choices. That’s why Epic filed this antitrust lawsuit. The district court’s factual findings make it clear that Apple’s behavior is precisely what the antitrust laws prohibit.
For her part, the judge considered at the end of the first trial that Apple, despite its largely dominant market place, had no monopoly. A mistake, believes Epic, which now hopes to bend the judge in its favor. It will probably be necessary to wait a few months before knowing if the American justice will decide to review its copy.
