A federal judge asks Apple to approve the submission of Fortnite on the American App Store or to return to the court to explain the legal basis of the reason why he did not do so.
In a new depositThe American district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers confirms that the court received the last request from Epic Games, where it requires that Apple approves Fortnite for distribution on the App Store.
The clearly annoyed judge asked Apple to show the court “the legal authority on which Apple maintains that he can ignore the order of this court”. Rogers also suggests that Apple will have to return to the court to explain if the situation is not addressed.
“Apple is entirely capable of solving this problem without any other briefing or audience,” said Rogers to the technology giant, before adding that Apple appoints the manager of the company who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the court’s decision.
Reading between the lines, the request for the name of Apple manager in the new file suggests that Rogers is not above the accusations of contempt for having failed to comply with the court injunction.
This follows his previous decision, where the judge kissed Apple for trying to move around the ordinances of the Court and accused the technological company of going to bed under oath.
After winning the right to include links to external payment mechanisms in its application, Epic Games submitted to Fortnite to the American App Store. However, Apple said to Game Maker That he decided not to take measures on the submission of Epic Games until after the ninth circuit, the rules on Apple’s waiting request for a partial stay of the new injunction. (In other words, Apple said that he did not need to approve the application until the legal proceedings around his appeal took place completely.)
Friday, Epic Games filed a request by obliging the court to enforce the injunction, given the decision of Apple.
The last legal threat follows a legal battle for several years on Apple App Store policies, which has long refused to develop the right to link external payment options without paying Apple a commission. Apple initially respected the court’s decision in the trial by allowing American promoters to request an exception from its App Store rules, but it still collected a commission of 27% on these alternative purchases, from the usual 30%. Apple also forced developers to use “frightening screens” who warned consumers when they clicks to make a purchase outside of its app store.
In a great victory for the developers, Rogers judged that Apple was in “deliberate violation” of the court injunction on prices and anti -competitive commissions, which would have apparently allowed Fortnite to return to the App Store. But Apple sat on the submission of a week in place, neither at the approval nor at the birth of the publication of the game, while his lawyers created an answer.
What is happening could then be important for Apple, because it can inspire legal action or similar regulations on other global markets.
Apple was the winner of the Epic original antitrust trial against the technology giant, because the court said that he was not a monopoly. However, Epic Games have widened a victory in a field when Rogers agreed that iPhone users should have access to other payment options if a developer wanted to use his own website for integrated purchases, such as those for virtual goods or subscriptions.
After the decision, Apple has updated its App Store policies for the United States and applications, including Spotify, Amazon Kindle and Patreon, quickly deployed new versions of their applications to take advantage of the new feature.
Epic Games refused to comment. Apple did not respond to a request for comments.
