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News: U.S. Supreme Court denies appeals from Apple as well Epic on Antitrust Case -

Jan 28, 2024

The 16th January on the 16th of January on the 16th of January, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeals of both Apple as well as Epic Games regarding the antitrust suit Epic filed against Apple for 2020. Reuters reported.

In 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed the majority of Epic's arguments in opposition to Apple but decided against Epic's policy against developers sending customers outside Apple's systems to purchase digital goods. In 2023, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with much of Judge Rogers 2021 ruling.

What Do You Think Apple think? Apple Is Responding

It was reported that the Associated Press reported that this will end the hold on the decision, allowing developers greater freedom to utilize other payment options. Apple also filed documents in court on the 16th day of January that outline the company's plans to adhere to the order while preserving most of their costs.

AP added that Apple's court filing shows they intend to:

  • Developers are allowed to make hyperlinks to websites that link to external sites, but Apple charge 12% to 27 percent commission on payment through links to other websites.
  • Informing consumers through the use of a "scare screen" if they click the hyperlink that takes them to a different payment method informing users that Apple is not liable to the transactions concerned with privacy or security.
  • Institute the approval procedure, which AP states is "potentially cumbersome" before allowing external-pointing hyperlinks or buttons to show up within iPhone or iPad applications. Apple's "effort to minimize the risk of fraud, scams as well as misinformation."

How Epic Games are Insisting

AP reported that the paper that outlined the plans "provoked accusations that Apple had acted in bad in good faith, and created the conditions for a further dispute on legal questions," apparently quoting Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney's X (formerly called Twitter) blog article which stated "Apple filed a bad-faith 'compliance plans for the injunction of the District Court."

Sweeney later outlined a list of "glaring issues we've observed previously," concluding " Epic will contest Apple's bad-faith compliance program at District Court" and as and attaching an image of the "scare displays" Apple has included in the Developer Support update on the link to purchase externally.

The previous day, Sweeney had posted mixed opinions, noting the fact that it is "unpleasant" that it was an appeals court that had to be ruled out. Supreme Court choosing not to take appeals into consideration in this case was "A terrible result for every developer" and claiming " developers can begin using their rights as judged by the court to inform US clients about cheaper prices for online purchases."

More Epic Games v. Apple Case Developments

On January 17th, Reuters reported that Apple had also asked the judge on Tuesday to make Epic Games pay them over $73 million in legal costs as well as additional expenses. Reuters states that Apple's request is based on "a lower court's ruling which declared that Epic Games had violated a developers agreement it signed in the year 2010" wherein "Epic was required to pay the costs of the financial and legal damages in addition to other charges to remedy any violations."

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