Apple wins appeal backing its App Store policy in Epic Games antitrust fight
Savusia Konstantin
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has won a court ruling upholding its approach to mobile app marketplaces, part of a battle with Epic Games, which had accused the tech giant of antitrust violations.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part district court judgments: affirming against Epic Games and its claims of restraint of trade, tying, and monopoly maintenance, and affirming a judgment in favor of Epic on state unfair competition law.
The lower court's 2021 decision had largely fallen Apple's way, rejecting Epic's claims that Apple's App Store violated the Sherman Act due to banning third-party app marketplaces. And the new decision upholds that Apple win.
Epic won a minor point as Apple's push for attorney fees was remanded for further proceedings.
"On Epicâs appeal, the panel affirmed the district courtâs denial of antitrust liability and its corresponding rejection of Epicâs illegality defense to Appleâs breach of contract counter-claim," the court said in a 91-page opinion.
The panel also held that "Epic failed to establish, as a factual matter, its proposed market definition and the existence of any substantially less restrictive alternative means for Apple to accomplish the procompetitive justifications supporting iOSâs walled-garden ecosystem."
Epic Games is controlled by its majority owner, founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, though Tencent Holdings (OTCPK:TCEHY) has a 40% stake and Sony (SONY) has nearly a 5% stake.
The fight had its origin in a 2020 dispute (and quick lawsuits by Epic against Apple and Google (GOOG) (GOOGL)) where Epic worked to evade paying Apple a 30% fee on in-app purchases in its hit game Fortnite -- an approach that led to Apple banning Fortnite from the App Store.