Epic takes its 'Fortnite' fight with Apple to the Supreme Court
Wesley HilliardEpic Games viral '1984' ad campaign against Apple
After losing on nearly every count against Apple in lower courts and appeals venues, Epic is taking its last shot at prevailing on its antitrust case to the Supreme Court.
Epic lost its antitrust case against Apple, didn't accomplish anything with appeals, and has complained about the one ruling it did win. Epic has also already appealed to the Supreme Court about the case before, and failed to get anything changed.
Despite all of that, Epic is ready to challenge Apple again by bringing the case to the Supreme Court for review. In a court document reviewed by AppleInsider, Epic has filed a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review the antitrust case and its ruling.
Epic has accused Apple of antitrust practices that uses monopoly control of the App Store to corner the iPhone app market and rake in billions in revenue. Apple's alleged control prevents anyone, like Epic, from starting their own app store on iPhone and competing with the company.
Apple argues that it doesn't participate in antitrust practices and companies are welcome to compete via Safari websites and other venues. The closed nature of the App Store, Apple argues, is for user privacy and security.
Epic launched an attack on Apple via its game Fortnite that bypassed Apple's App Store payment system. After Apple kicked the offending app from the App Store, Epic sued.
Epic lost on every count but one, Apple's anti-steering practices. Apple has appealed against this ruling and a stay is in place to stop Apple from having to comply with the ruling until the appeal is complete.
It isn't clear if Epic will have any success appealing the Supreme Court. Changes to the lower court's ruling could have significant ramifications for Apple, iPhone, and the entire app economy.
Mike Wuerthele
Malcolm Owen
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24 Comments
Most likely outcome: SC doesn't take up the case.
Apple is likely to file its own cert petition, asking the Supreme Court to consider aspects of the case, today or tomorrow. I think the deadline for filing that petition is, as it was for Epic, tomorrow.
I'll be happy with Epic finally goes out of business.