Apple Denies Violating US Court Order Amid Epic Games Legal Battle
Apple accused Epic of wanting to “micromanage” its business operations.
Apple has denied allegations of violating a court order over its App Store, asking a US judge to dismiss Epic Games’ request to hold it in contempt.
Epic submitted a filing to US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over Epic’s 2020 lawsuit against Apple, which saw it accused of violating antitrust policies after it banned Fortnite from the App Store.
In 2021, Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple had to allow developers greater freedom to implement alternative payment systems within apps. Epic submitted a court filing last month that said Apple was in “blatant violation” of the 2021 ruling by charging developers a 27% fee for the payment systems, which made them “commercially unusable,” per Reuters.
Denying the allegations, Apple’s rebuttal said that Epic is angling to make Apple “tools and technologies available to developers for free” and accused the game studio of wanting “to micromanage Apple’s business operations in a way that would increase Epic’s profitability.”
Epic is spearheading a similar case against Google’s Alphabet, which is expected to be heard by a judge later this year.
