Apple appeals U.S. court decision in Epic Games case

Apple has appealed a decision made in the U.S. court system last week as it once again tries to get a cut of payments made outside of the App Store.

In 2021, Epic Games began a legal battle with Apple over how the tech giant handles payments. Epic alleged that third-party apps should be allowed to use their own payment processing tech to circumvent Apple’s 30 per cent tax on purchases made within its walled garden.

In the outcome of this, Apple was court ordered to stop pushing devs to use the App Store’s payment platform. However, Epic once again took Apple to court in 2024 when the gaming giant alleged that Apple wasn’t following the terms laid out by the judge after the first lawsuit.

Epic won that lawsuit as well, which forced Apple once again to commit to letting third-party apps use their own payment platforms without giving a cut to the App Store. This new version of the lawsuit was also more clear in making sure Apple can’t control the language on each app’s payment screen.

Now, on May 5, Apple once again appealed the decision as it continues to fight for as much App Store revenue as possible. Apple will still need to comply with the previous ruling for now which will see Epic Games bring Fortnite back to the App Store in America. Canadians are left out of this change, but ideally, if Epic wins, it will set a precedent for other countries to follow.

Source: The Verge