Epic vs apple trial#

Epic vs apple trial#

Given the trial record, the Court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws. Overall, this would be considered a landslide victory for Apple as they lost out on only one ground, but that ground is perhaps the most lucrative one for Apple. Apple was ruled not a monopolist while Epic was blamed for failing to prove Apple as such.

The decision found 9 counts out of 10 to be in Apple’s favor while only 1 in Epic’s. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers finally handed her decision, ending the case after a highly-publicized few months. The trial ended less than 4 months ago in May and today, U.S. Courtroom artist’s illustration of Tim Cook taking the stand to answer questions from the judge – Source: Vicki Behringer The Decision While the current fight started after Epic tried to circumvent the App Store’s in-app purchase system, the conflict had been brewing for a long time as Epic CEO Tim Sweeney had criticized Apple’s App Store policies as far back as 2015. Epic expected this to happen and, in an orchestrated move, immediately filed a case against Apple for monopolistic behavior. Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store and banned Epic Games’ user account. This small change sparked a year-long battle between Apple and Epic that stemmed way past just these two companies. The only catch – players would be taken to Epic Games’ website and would pay directly to Epic, instead of buying it through an in-app purchase on the App Store. Epic introduced a new way by which players could buy V-bucks, the in-game currency, for 20% cheaper than what they had to pay previously. In August 2020, Epic Games made a small change to its highly-popular game Fortnite on the iOS platform.