Apple, Epic Games Request US Appeals Court to Rethink Its Antitrust Ruling

Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games on Wednesday each requested a US appeals court docket to rethink its April ruling in an antitrust case that would drive Apple to vary fee practices in its App Store.

Apple and Epic, in separate court docket filings, mounted challenges to a ruling by a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals. Lawyers for the 2 corporations mentioned the panel ought to rehear the case or the court docket ought to convene “en banc,” as an 11-judge panel, to rethink the dispute.

The April three-judge ruling upheld a 2021 order in California federal court docket in Epic’s lawsuit which accused Apple of unlawfully requiring software program builders to pay as much as 30 p.c in commissions on customers’ in-app purchases.

The trial decide discovered that Apple violated a California state unfair competitors legislation, however not US antitrust provisions. Apple’s new submitting challenged a nationwide injunction over conduct Apple mentioned was “procompetitive and does not violate the antitrust laws.”

Epic’s ninth Circuit submitting argued that its claims towards Apple immediately implicate the “core purpose” of US antitrust legislation to foster competitors. Epic additionally argued that the appeals court docket didn’t conduct a “rigorous” balancing between asserted asserted shopper advantages and anticompetitive results of Apple’s practices.

Federal appeals courts don’t typically grant en banc requests. Last yr, the ninth Circuit obtained 646 petitions asking the court docket for en banc rehearings. During that interval, the court docket granted 12 requests. In 2021, the court docket granted en banc evaluation in 9 instances.

The US Supreme Court may have the ultimate say on the result.

Representatives for Apple and Epic had no instant remark.

The decrease court docket ruling is on maintain pending additional appellate proceedings.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling mentioned Apple couldn’t bar App Store builders from offering hyperlinks and buttons that direct customers to fee choices exterior of Apple’s in-app buy system.

Gonzalez Rogers didn’t present any course on how Apple should enable these hyperlinks or buttons.

Competition authorities in different nations, together with South Korea, the Netherlands and Japan, have taken steps to drive Apple to open up its in-app fee methods.

© Thomson Reuters 2023