Apple says Epic’s lawsuit shouldn’t reshape the App Store’s rules for all developers

In Apple’s seemingly never-ending lawsuit with Fortnite maker Epic Games over App Store commissions, the iPhone maker is once again fighting a court ruling. Her latest tactic? Arguing that Epic Games’ dispute with Apple over its fee structure shouldn’t result in an injunction that applies to all developers publishing on the US App Store, including other tech giants like Microsoft and Spotify, which were not part of this specific lawsuit.

“Epic never filed a class action lawsuit and never attempted to show that enjoining Apple’s conduct against all other developers — such as Microsoft or Spotify, who have no relationship with Epic — was somehow necessary to provide relief to Epic,” says Apple’s new petition, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court’s ruling.

In the same document, Apple also argues against the Ninth Circuit’s civil contempt order regarding Apple’s compliance with the injunction. The court ruled that Apple must give developers the right to include links in their apps — links that could direct users to alternative payment options outside of Apple’s own system — if they choose to do so. Apple allowed this as requested, but imposed fees on those third-party purchases, resulting in the contempt order.

The Ninth Circuit said that imposing a 27% fee on foreign payments would defeat the purpose of allowing it, which it did. But Apple is backing down for specific legal reasons. Its new argument focuses on whether a federal court can hold a party in civil contempt for violating the “spirit” of the injunction when the injunction itself was written in a way that left room for interpretation and said nothing about panels (i.e., did not specifically mention to forbid Fees on foreign purchases, so TechnicallyApple believes it has done nothing wrong.)

Apple seems to have endless money to fund its legal battles. The company has been fighting Epic’s original 2020 lawsuit for more than five years with no end in sight.

Epic Games criticized Apple’s latest move, calling it “a final salute for delaying a conclusion in this case and avoiding opening the floodgates to payment competition for consumers.”

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court denied Apple’s request to temporarily halt further proceedings until the court could determine whether sanctions were justified.

Epic Games announced this week that Fortnite is back on the App Store globally (except in Australia), because they believe the court is on their side and won’t allow Apple’s fee structure to remain as is.