The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the years-long Apple v. Epic Games antitrust case. Denies both companies’ requests tuesday.
In effect, the court’s decision leaves Apple’s current App Store fees intact while allowing developers to direct users to external payment methods. It also allows Apple to continue to keep the App Store as the only app available to iOS users.
“Supreme Court rejects appeals from both sides in Epic v. Apple antitrust case.” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on twitter Tuesday morning. “The legal battle to open iOS to competing stores and payment systems has been lost in the United States. “This is a sad outcome for all developers.”
But he added that the decision now allows iOS app developers to include buttons and links that point to external purchases outside the App Store. “Starting today, developers can exercise their court-established rights to tell U.S. customers better prices on the web,” Sweeney said. wrote.
Apple’s App Store is currently the only way for iOS users to download new applications, and Apple takes a 30% cut from any in-app purchases or app sales. Epic Games, publisher of the hit battle royale shooter Fortnite and maker of the Unreal Engine game development platform, sought a workaround in 2020 to avoid the costly “Apple tax.” Apple then booted a mobile version of Fortnite from its App Store, and the battle between the tech giant and the game’s publisher began.
Last August, Supreme Court temporarily suspended The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the case, giving Apple time to file an appeal.
In April 2023, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law by not allowing iOS applications to offer billing options to users outside of Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism. The Ninth Circuit also said Apple’s 30% tax could be upheld despite the previous ruling. judged to be illegal.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision will take effect from the 9th Circuit’s decision. This means iOS developers can offer alternative payment methods outside of the App Store that effectively avoid Apple’s taxes. This could cost Apple billions of dollars in lost revenue.
But for now, it looks like the App Store’s 30% in-app purchase tax will remain in place in the US. Despite Epic’s efforts to improve this.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
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