The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a 2021 ruling on Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which both parties had appealed.
Epic launched its lawsuit against the iPhone maker in August 2020, following the company's decision to revoke Epic's Fortnite developer account, blocking the battle royale game from being distributed on its devices. Apple made the move after Epic deliberately circumvented contractually mandated App Store payment mechanisms within its Fortnite iOS app, which would have allowed it to avoid Apple's 30 percent platform fees.
The following year, California's Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers ruled against Epic in nine of its 10 claims, determining the company had failed to prove Apple held a monopoly as defined by antitrust laws. However, Gonzalez-Rogers did side with Epic in one matter, ruling Apple could not block developers linking out to alternative payment methods from within apps - a practice known as "anti-steering" - as that would constitute "anti-competitive conduct" under state law.