Apple appeals outcome of its legal battle with Epic Games

Apple has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in reaction to one of the outcomes of the Apple vs. Epic Games judgment from September. While Apple won nine of the ten Epic Games claims, it did lose one. Apple was accused of improperly restricting users’ ability to choose which payment system to use for in-app transactions, according to one lawsuit. Apple was also ordered to allow developers to link consumers to third-party payment systems, which was set to begin in December.”

The appeal asks the Court to put the case on hold temporarily so that Apple can “defend consumers and safeguard its platform while it works through the complex and quickly expanding legal, technological, and economic challenges.”According to the complaint, Apple has no way of knowing if a user who pays for a feature or product via an external payment link actually receives it.

Apple feels that allowing customers to make this decision will increase the company’s workload and perhaps add to the hundreds of thousands of reports it already gets. Because Apple has simply filed an appeal, it is unclear if the Court would grant the requested stay. Epic Games filed an antitrust action against Apple, which Apple won in September. Epic Games purposefully broke its contract with Apple’s App Store in 2020 when it began offering users the option of using its own payment method, which was in violation of Apple’s App Store standards.

Epic Games was required to pay royalties to Apple on all money earned outside of Apple’s payment system because it was bound by a legal agreement. At the same time, the Court found that Apple was suffocating customer choice by requiring all payments to be made through Apple. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers imposed a permanent injunction prohibiting Apple from forcing developers to utilize Apple’s payment system exclusively.