Epic Games files to appeal ruling in Apple lawsuit
Epic Games has filed its appeal to the September 10 ruling in its lawsuit against Apple, asking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to revisit the case.
Filed on Sunday, the appeal of the ruling is brief, consisting of a single paragraph, with the bulk of its 20-page length devoted to representation statements. As before, the plaintiff and counter-defendant is listed as Epic Games, while Apple takes the role of defendant and counterclaimant.
The short appeal is a notice that Epic "appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from the final Judgment entered on September 10, 2021, and all orders leading to or producing that judgment, including but not limited to the Rule 52 Order After Trial on the Merits and the Permanent Injunction, each entered on the same date."
The brevity of the appeal doesn't offer any real hint as to what Epic is specifically appealing, but an appeal was expected to occur regardless of the result in court due to the sizes of the companies and the finances involved.
Just after the ruling was issued, Epic said it would appeal the court's decision. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also posted to Twitter "We will fight on."
The ruling is one that caused both sides to incur a cost. For Apple, an injunction effectively requires it to allow alternative payment methods for apps in the App Store, though the ruling did say that Apple wasn't a monopoly in the market, and that Epic did breach contractual terms.
Epic largely failed in its bid to force Apple into allowing a third-party App Store to exist on iOS, but the change in payment terms is likely to be beneficial to developers in general.
The game company also has to pay Apple 30% of the $12 million in revenue it collected through Epic Direct Payment, as well as 30% of any revenue collected relevant to iOS through November 1 to the date of judgment, plus interest.
Read on AppleInsider
Filed on Sunday, the appeal of the ruling is brief, consisting of a single paragraph, with the bulk of its 20-page length devoted to representation statements. As before, the plaintiff and counter-defendant is listed as Epic Games, while Apple takes the role of defendant and counterclaimant.
The short appeal is a notice that Epic "appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from the final Judgment entered on September 10, 2021, and all orders leading to or producing that judgment, including but not limited to the Rule 52 Order After Trial on the Merits and the Permanent Injunction, each entered on the same date."
The brevity of the appeal doesn't offer any real hint as to what Epic is specifically appealing, but an appeal was expected to occur regardless of the result in court due to the sizes of the companies and the finances involved.
Just after the ruling was issued, Epic said it would appeal the court's decision. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also posted to Twitter "We will fight on."
The ruling is one that caused both sides to incur a cost. For Apple, an injunction effectively requires it to allow alternative payment methods for apps in the App Store, though the ruling did say that Apple wasn't a monopoly in the market, and that Epic did breach contractual terms.
Epic largely failed in its bid to force Apple into allowing a third-party App Store to exist on iOS, but the change in payment terms is likely to be beneficial to developers in general.
The game company also has to pay Apple 30% of the $12 million in revenue it collected through Epic Direct Payment, as well as 30% of any revenue collected relevant to iOS through November 1 to the date of judgment, plus interest.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
“… though the ruling did say that Apple wasn't a monopoly in the market, and that Epic did breach contractual terms.”
Who is getting screwed here!??
SMH!
I don’t think it did…
”The Court does not find that it is impossible; only that Epic Games failed in its burden to demonstrate Apple is an illegal monopolist.”
</pedant>
The one count that Epic won doesn't automatically result in Apple's App Store 30% cut going to the developer. All is does it require Apple to provide a way for third-party developers to include a hyperlink or button to a third-party payment option.
Joe Consumer isn't going to follow that link and do the extra steps to complete payment. They will let the Apple App Store handle payment because that's the most convenient. If you wanted to buy something on Amazon, how keen would you be visiting some offsite payment processor to complete the action?
Epic knows that this isn't consumer friendly hence their appeal resulting the halting of the permanent injunction.
I don't know how much of an effect this will have. 30% is not a small amount; if a developer charges $50 on the App Store and then puts a link saying you can get the software for $35 I bet a lot of people will click the link.
In the end, Epic filing an appeal simply puts off any changes so Apple gets to keep the status quo. I'm sure that suits Apple just fine!
There are 3 technologically possible payment mechanisms, Apple in-app, non-apple in-app, and external. The first and last of these is now possible, the non-apple in-app that got Epic booted is still off the table.
1) all links to external purchase for items used in-app must be priced the same as an Apple in-app option.
2) that Apple is still entitled to compensation for their I.P. via all items purchased for use in the app, regardless of the payment mechanism used, Apple in-app or external.
3) all external app purchases must be logged via a new accounting API so Apple can bill them monthly.
I think most media dont understand the nuances of this ruling. Apple will not have a significant loss of revenue.
if Apple don’t want Fortnite on their devices they can keep it kicked from the store. They could also kill it on all installed devices, but that seems needlessly user-hostile and would piss a lot of customers off.