Epic Games Escalates Legal Battle with Apple to US Supreme Court

Epic Games has submitted a petition to the US Supreme Court, seeking to uphold a prior ruling that prohibits Apple from preventing app developers from redirecting users to payment systems outside of the Apple ecosystem. According to Reuters, Epic is requesting that the Supreme Court overturn a decision made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month, which paused the original injunction. Apple had filed its own appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a 2021 decision that ordered the company to cease its anti-steering practices, which require all in-app transactions to be handled through Apple's system, resulting in a 30% fee for the company. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had paused the ruling on anti-steering practices, giving Apple 90 days to prepare its appeal, while criticizing Apple's legal arguments for disregarding the factual record and prior rulings in the case. Epic is now seeking to lift this pause and have the Supreme Court uphold the original 2021 decision. The legal battle between Epic and Apple began in 2020, when Epic released a update to Fortnite that allowed players to purchase in-game currency directly from the developer, bypassing Apple's 30% cut and violating the company's developer agreement. Apple subsequently removed the game from the App Store, prompting Epic to file an antitrust lawsuit. Epic is also engaged in a similar dispute with Google.