‘Epic Games’ Asks US Supreme Court To Enforce App Store Order

(CTN News) – On Thursday, it was reported that Epic Games had filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to allow a lower court ruling against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to be enforced, which could force the iPhone maker to change its payment practices in its App Store as a consequence of the ruling.

Earlier this week, Epic Games, the maker of the popular video game “Fortnite,” filed a request asking the nation’s highest court to lift a July 17 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend its ruling that upheld an injunction against Apple.

As a result of the decision, Apple has 90 days to file an appeal at the Supreme Court if it wishes.

Epic Games filed its antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, challenging Apple’s practices in the App Store, in a closely watched antitrust case.

This April, the 9th Circuit affirmed a federal judge’s order from 2021, which could require Epic Games Apple to allow developers to provide links and buttons that direct consumers to payment options that are not available through the App Store, and eliminate Apple’s commissions on sales.

In his ruling, the trial judge held that Apple had violated California’s unfair competition laws by preventing developers from “steering” users to other ways to pay, but also that Apple’s rules did not violate antitrust laws in any way.

It is Apple’s intention to halt the injunction while it prepares an appeal to the Supreme Court, and Apple has argued that the trial judge erred in prohibiting Apple from enforcing its rules against all app developers in the United States, not just Epic Games itself, in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

According to Apple, it will have to change its business model in order to comply with the injunction even before judicial review is completed, the company told the 9th Circuit.

It has been established that the undisputed evidence establishes that Apple will be limited in its ability to protect its users from fraud, scams, malware, spyware, and objectionable content as a result of the injunction.”

As Epic Games stated in its submission to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the standard the 9th Circuit uses to determine whether to put cases on hold is “far too lenient.”

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