The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a 2021 decision rejecting Epic Games' claims that Apple broke federal law by not allowing other marketplaces on iOS.
As reported by Bloomberg, the three-judge panel that made the decision said it wasn't their job to resolve the debate about, "the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power".
The panel stated they had applied, "existing precedent to the facts".
Also Read | Epic Games alleges Google not complying with CCI
The tiff began when both Apple and Google removed the mobile version of Epic's popular game Fortnite from the App Store and Play Store for violating their respective policies and intentionally withholding code that redirected users to their payment system, circumventing the 30% tax imposed on in-app payments by Google and Apple. Epic then proceeded to take both companies to court in 2020.
In 2021, the US lower-court ruled in favor of Apple in nine out of ten counts, saying it did not find that Apple had a monopoly or broke any federal laws. The ruling also said that Apple was under no obligation to support any alternative payment systems on its platform.
While the lower-court said Apple failed to justify its 30% tax, there was nothing stopping the company from charging it, and the only concession offered was to allow third-party developers to advertise their own payment systems through web links.
Also Read | US Federal Trade Commission fines Fortnite creator Epic Games $520 million
The ruling also said that Apple could continue to block Fortnite from the App Store if it chooses.
After the ruling, Tim Sweeny tweeted out that Epic would be willing to play by Apple's rules and wanted to be on the App Store. However, Apple shot the offer down and said it would not consider bringing back the game until the legal proceedings were over.
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