
APPLE VS EPIC RULING LICENSE
“For now, Epic International appears to have separate developer program license agreements with Apple and those agreements have not been breached,” said Gonzalez Rogers. In her ruling, the judge pointed out that for one thing, Epic Games International - which owns the Unreal Engine and maintains a contract with Apple for development rights - is a legally separate entity from the Fortnite maker. As for another legal consideration in deciding whether to award a temporary restraining order, Gonzalez Rogers said Epic “has made a preliminary showing of irreparable harm” when it came to the possibility of being blocked from Unreal Engine development.Įpic’s lawyers said during oral arguments that revoking the company’s access to developer privileges would make the Unreal Engine unusable on Apple platforms, and also said that developers are already “fleeing” from using it. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that while Epic had not yet demonstrated that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust complaint against Apple, “serious questions do exist” about Apple’s App Store policies. In her eight-page ruling, following oral arguments that took place over Zoom earlier that day, U.S.
APPLE VS EPIC RULING MAC
In addition, Apple later threatened to block Epic from being able to continue updating the Unreal Engine on Apple platforms.Īpple threatens to cut off Epic Games from iOS, Mac dev tools In retaliation for that willful violation of their policies, both Google and Apple removed Fortnite from their stores, which led Epic to file antitrust lawsuits against both tech giants.
APPLE VS EPIC RULING ANDROID
13, the Fortnite maker updated the iOS and Android versions of the game to introduce a payment option for V-Bucks that circumvented the respective billing systems on Apple’s and Google’s software marketplaces. 27, iOS users won’t be able to play it because the game will remain unavailable on the App Store. But when Fortnite chapter 2, season 4 goes live on Thursday, Aug. Epic had argued that it was a retaliatory move by Apple that would impact developers “well beyond video games.” Monday’s court decision, which partially granted a temporary restraining order against Apple, means that Epic will be able to maintain active development of the Unreal Engine on iOS and macOS.


The ruling, which is effective immediately, addresses Epic’s most pressing concern - the possibility that Apple would cut Epic off from Unreal Engine development on Apple’s operating systems as of Aug. However, Apple has not yet announced any such changes in the operating system, which launches this fall.The first major court opinion in the legal battle between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games is (literally) a split decision: In an order filed late Monday, a federal judge ruled that Apple cannot terminate Epic’s access to Unreal Engine development tools on Apple platforms, but declined to grant Epic’s request to force Apple to allow Fortnite to return to the App Store. Slightly less convincingly, the filing argues that “there would be no prejudice to Epic from a stay: Epic is not an iOS app developer and does not stand to benefit from the injunction.” Epic is not an iOS app developer because Apple terminated its account.Īpple has been rumored to be opening iOS 17 to third-party app stores and sideloading in the European Union following the Digital Markets Act’s strict terms regarding third-party app stores and payments.

“The panel’s decision affirming the injunction departs from Supreme Court and Circuit precedent holding that an injunction cannot be any broader than necessary to make the plaintiff whole, and that relief cannot otherwise extend beyond the named plaintiff without class certification.” “The district court issued a sweeping injunction prohibiting Apple from enforcing its anti-steering rules against all developers of iOS apps offered for distribution in the United States, even though the sole named plaintiff (Epic Games, Inc.) did not seek or obtain class certification, and did not prove that an injunction running in favor of non-parties was necessary to make it whole,” the filing reads.
