The battle between Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, and Apple appears to be continuing, despite the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear appeals from either side.
However, last month the Epic vs. Apple saga continued as Epic filed a motion asking the court to hold Apple in contempt. The Fortnite creator claimed that Apple did not adequately follow a court order to allow developers to connect to external payment platforms, known as Apple’s anti-stewardship rules.
Apple denies the claims of infringement
Reuters reports that the iPhone maker has denied violating a court order related to the App Store and has urged a federal judge in California to throw out Epic Games’ request to declare it in contempt. Apple presented its arguments in submission to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, who oversaw Epic’s lawsuit in 2020. The lawsuit accused Apple of violating antitrust laws by tightly controlling how users download apps and make payments within them.
In its filing, Apple criticized what it described as Epic’s attempt to make Apple’s “tools and technologies available to developers for free.” It was stated that Epic intended that the court “to micromanage Apple’s business in a way that would increase Epic’s profitability.”
Apple further stated:
Epic’s proposal is its latest attempt at free access to the iOS platform and user base… Epic doesn’t even propose an alternative amount that Apple should charge developers to use and access its tools and technologies.
Apple has already told the court that it did what was requested back in January, allowing developers to apply for the right to add the link to their own website. But Epic thought this was just “sham” because Apple’s rules still wanted to prevent developers from looking for alternatives to the App Store.
Last month, Elon Musk’s X, Meta, Microsoft and Tinder owner Match Group echoed Epic’s arguments, informing Rogers that Apple is in “a clear violation” court order. In a related case against Alphabet’s Google, brought by Epic, a judge in San Francisco is expected to issue a separate injunction later this year that would affect the Google Play store.