Epic asks U.S. Supreme Court to enforce lower court's App Store order

AppleInsider said:

Epic Games is asking the United States Supreme Court to uphold a recent ruling made by a lower court, hoping the highest court will unpause an injunction against Apple and force the company's hand with App Store payment systems.

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While the majority of legal decisions in the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit have gone in Apple's direction, there is one that didn't -- anti-steering rules in the digital storefront. Unsurprisingly, Apple petitioned the Supreme Court to review the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision.

As a result of that petition, Apple can technically delay any major changes to the App Store. By default, the company now has 90 days before it needs to make any changes, and it could get even longer if SCOTUS decides to hear the case.

Epic Games is not very happy with how this is going, according to a report from Reuters. The company, which develops the popular battle royale game Fortnite, has filed a request with the highest court in the nation to lift the lower court's decision.

SCOTUS has not moved on this particular case as of the time of publication, either granting Apple's appeal or responding to Epic's requests.

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That is not what this application asks for. In this application Epic is asking the Supreme Court to vacate the stay issued by the Ninth Circuit so that the injunction requiring Apple to change its anti-steering policies would go into effect while the Supreme Court considers the matter - i.e., while the Court decides whether to grant the forthcoming cert petition from Apple and then, possibly, hears the case.

Epic no doubt will ask the Court to let stand the ruling in its favor regarding Apple's anti-steering policies , but that ask will come in the form of a response to a cert petition from Apple which has yet to be filed. It would make no sense for Epic to ask the Court to let stand that ruling now; it would be putting the cart before the horse so to speak. Similarly, Apple would not now ask the Supreme Court to let stand all of the aspects of the Ninth Circuit's decision  which went in its favor. It would only do that in response to Epic filing a cert petition of its own challenging those aspects of the decision.

As I suggested, Apple has not petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit's decision. It has 90 days from the date when the Ninth Circuit denied panel and en banc rehearings of the case to file such a cert petition. That happened at the end of June, so Apple has about 2 months left to file a cert petition. So does Epic. Apple will likely take almost all of that time before filing its petition. And so long as Apple files such a petition and provides notice to the Ninth Circuit of that filing, the Ninth Circuit's stay (of the injunction requiring Apple to change its anti-steering policies) will automatically be extended until the Supreme Court decides whether to grant Apple's petition. That could take a few months or it could take much longer. So even if the Court ultimately decides not to hear the case - i.e., not to grant Apple's petition - the Ninth Circuit's stay was, for practical purposes, for longer than 90 days.

Is Fortnite even a big thing anymore? I'm not a gamer, but I haven't heard buzz about it in well more two years...other than the legal battle

Funny thing is if Apple loses it only helps other developers but not Epic since they’re banned from
The App Store.

ericthehalfbee said:

Funny thing is if Apple loses it only helps other developers but not Epic since they’re banned from
The App Store.

That’s correct. Under no scenario would Apple have to allow Epic back in.

Moreover, numerous courts all over the world have ruled that Apple is 100 percent entitled to charge a fee for creating, running, and administering the App Store, and that such a fee would be applicable **even if** Apple itself or some other authority made them accept payments from alternative providers.

Mind you, as noted previously, 85 percent of developers don’t pay any fee at all, and small developers who do less that $1million/year don’t pay 30 percent, so there’s little chance at this stage that any court is going to find the fees excessive.

chasm said:

ericthehalfbee said:

Funny thing is if Apple loses it only helps other developers but not Epic since they’re banned from
The App Store.

That’s correct. Under no scenario would Apple have to allow Epic back in.

Moreover, numerous courts all over the world have ruled that Apple is 100 percent entitled to charge a fee for creating, running, and administering the App Store, and that such a fee would be applicable **even if** Apple itself or some other authority made them accept payments from alternative providers.

Mind you, as noted previously, 85 percent of developers don’t pay any fee at all, and small developers who do less that $1million/year don’t pay 30 percent, so there’s little chance at this stage that any court is going to find the fees excessive.

EXACTLY.  Why did Apple start a fight with Epic.  Epic created a video game that people liked. Someone or people at Apple need re-evaluation.  Epic was paying the fees.  They didn't skip on the bill and steal a gettaway car. And get into a car chase.