Legal battle between Apple and Epic Games

Apple, the company behind the iPhone, has refuted claims of breaching a court order related to its App Store and has asked a federal judge in California to dismiss Epic Games’ request to hold it in contempt.

Apple made the allegations in a filing with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, who presided over Epic’s 2020 lawsuit, accusing Apple of violating antitrust laws by tightly controlling how consumers download apps and pay for transactions within them.

Apple’s filing criticized Epic’s attempt to make Apple’s “tools and technologies available to developers for free.”

According to it, Epic wanted the court to “micro-manage Apple’s business in a way that would increase Epic’s profitability.”

Epic declined to comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the dispute, which is part of a long battle between the two companies.

Epic largely lost its lawsuit against Apple, but in 2021 Rogers ordered Apple to give developers more freedom to direct app users to alternative payment methods for digital goods.

In January, the US Supreme Court refused to hear Apple’s appeal of the injunction.

Epic said in a court filing last month that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple “flagrantly” violated the court order. It cited Apple imposing a 27% fee on developers for some purchases, which the video game maker said makes links to alternative payment options “commercially unviable.”

Epic also claimed that Apple prevented some apps from informing users about other ways to pay for goods.

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Elon Musk’s X and Match Group last month echoed Epic’s claims, telling Rogers that Apple was “clearly” in violation of the court order.

In a similar case filed by Epic against Alphabet’s Google, a San Francisco judge is expected to issue a separate injunction this year that affects the Google Play Store.

The case is Epic Games Inc v Apple Inc, United States District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-05640.