Although some might have thought that the Epic Games vs. Apple battle was over when the US Supreme Court decided that the existing App Store solution would remain in force, and it heard no appeals from either side, it quickly became clear that this was not the case.
Epic Games has now made good on its threat to challenge Apple ’ 8220;unfair compliance plan” – under which the company will charge a 27% commission on app sales made outside of its own App Store …
The story so far
- Epic Games introduced its own in-app payment system on iPhone
- This bypassed the App Store and deprived Apple of a 30% commission.
- This was a blatant violation of the App Store terms & conditions
- Apple responded by removing the company from the App Store.
- Both companies went to court.
- The court told Epic that Apple is not a monopoly
- The court ruled that Apple must allow the sale of applications outside the App Store.
- In both cases, they appealed the parts of the decision that they did not like
- The US Supreme Court rejected the appeal.
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This decision meant that the court's original decisions stood, and Apple immediately responded by saying that of course it would allow the sale apps to third party companies, but this will still charge them a 27% fee (12% for small developers).
It seems clear that the competition authorities will not be satisfied with this, as the Ministry has reportedly US Justice is close to initiating legal proceedings against Apple.
Apple has taken much the same stance in response to European antitrust laws, and will likely face the wrath of regulators again.
Epic challenges Apple's compliance with App Store decision
As soon as Apple announced its plans, Epic accused the company of bad faith, arguing that it had not actually complied with the original court decision. The company's CEO told us that the decision went against the grain of the judge's decision.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is unhappy with the final terms and says the company will fight “Apple's unscrupulous compliance plan” […]
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Sweeney said Apple's decision is “anti-competitive” because developers cannot offer digital goods online at a lower price after having to pay both Apple and another platform.
Bloomberg reports that Epic has indeed filed a formal complaint regarding this matter.
Apple Inc. failed to properly comply with a court order to open its App Store to allow third-party payment methods weeks after filing its application. resistance to these changes has reached a stalemate, Epic Games Inc. said. judge […]
Epic said Tuesday it “challenges Apple's compliance” with previously ordered changes and said it would explain the “inconsistency” in upcoming filings. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Although the Supreme Court's decision means neither side can challenge the decision itself, Epic here argues that Apple's failure to comply is an issue that will need to be settled in court.)
Apple's position is that the court confirmed that it has the right to charge a fee (although it did not express any opinion as to the amount); that all developers benefit from the support the company provides through APIs and the like; and, quite coincidentally, nothing is charged if the user clicks an external purchase link and for some inexplicable reason waits seven days before purchasing the app.
Photo by Markus Liste on Unsplash
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