Apple Kinda Wins Antitrust Dispute Because The Supreme Court Refused To Hear It

It looks like the Supreme Court has no desire to listen to Apple and Epic bicker over the same stuff they’ve been fighting about for four years now. Yesterday, the court denied requests from both Apple and Epic to hear an antitrust dispute.

The dispute began in 2020 when Apple banned Epic from the App Store for bypassing Apple’s in-app purchase system for Fortnite – and therefore any commission Apple would have received on sales. Epic then sued Apple for violating antitrust laws. Apple counter-sued. The cases have been heard and mostly rejected both in the lower court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The one true exception being a judgment that Apple cannot stop developers from letting players know about alternate payment systems.

That ruling has yet to be implemented as the case worked its way through the Supreme Court. Now that the court has refused to hear both filings, it seems Apple may finally have to make changes to allow developers to inform players about different ways to pay.

This is the one true win for Epic against Apple, as their games are still not allowed back on the App Store. In a series of tweets, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated that “the battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States”. He also told developers to take advantage of the ability to direct players to alternate payment options.

Apple has already sought to reclaim $73.4 million in court fees they'd like Epic to take care of and a hearing is scheduled on March 24th over the issue. Apple actually claims to have spent over $83 million defending itself from Epic's "planned" and multi-faceted" attack, but says they reduced their ask by $10 million due to Epic's "partial" win in court.

The Supreme Court denied both sides’ appeals of the Epic v. Apple antitrust case. The court battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024

As of today, developers can begin exercising their court-established right to tell US customers about better prices on the web. These awful Apple-mandated confusion screens are over and done forever. pic.twitter.com/YnFWt85MRF

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024