Court sets the record straight in Epic Games vs Apple: Permission for third-party payment methods on App Store and hefty fine for Epic Games

The legal battle between game developer Epic Games and Apple, which began after Fortnite was removed from App Store, has been ongoing for a long time. Finally yesterday, the California District Court issued a final ruling on this lawsuit.

Who's right and

In general Apple won the case, although if we judge it soberly and objectively, in fact there are no winners in this case, as "punishment" is provided for both parties. In the first place, Apple has not become recognized as a monopolist. "Such a conclusion cannot be drawn either  under federal antitrust laws or  state laws. Nevertheless, this proceeding did show that Apple resorted to antitrust actions that violated California's competition laws", - the judge noted.

But the court ruled that Epic Games did violate the agreement by allowing users to buy in-game currency and merchandise directly through the Fortnite game app, rather than  through Apple's payment service.
 As a result, Epic Games must pay a hefty fine of 30% of all revenue generated through Epic Direct Payment since its implementation (August - October2020 ), and also 30% of similar Epic Games revenue generated between November 1, 2020 and the court decision. By calculations, that's over $3.5 million.

In addition, some of Epic Games' claims are also upheld. For example, the ruling states that Apple "cannot prohibit developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to purchase mechanisms, in addition to purchases directly in the apps". The judgment is due to take effect in 90 days - December 9.

Source: The Verge