Epic Games won in an ongoing legal dispute with Apple. As a result, Fortnite was able to return to the US iOS app store as early as next week.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in Wednesday’s ruling that Apple was in a “willful violation” of a 2021 injunction that barred the company from imposing anti-competitive pricing.
Apple won a lot of controversy in its trials with Epic Games. One notable exception was the ruling that prohibited iPhone makers from collecting fees for purchases made outside of apps. At the time, Apple was told to change its app store so developers could direct customers to their website.
According to the ruling, Apple not only did not comply, but also “deliberately” with the intention of creating a new anti-competitive barrier.
“That this court considered such disobedience to be a serious miscalculation. As usual, the cover-up made it worse. For this court, there was no second bite on the apple,” Rogers said in the ruling. She took a step further, introducing the case to US lawyers in the Northern District of California and reviewing it for possible criminal cont crime lawsuits.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has taken him to X and announced that his company will bring Fortnite back to the US app store soon next week.
As reported by The Verge, Sweeney has extended its proposal to Apple as well. “If Apple extends Worldwide’s Apple’s frictionless, frictionless framework, it will bring Fortnite back to App Stores around the world and drop current and future lawsuits on topics,” he writes.
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The ruling was celebrated by other high-tech companies affected by Apple’s policies.
“This groundbreaking court ruling is a victory for developers everywhere,” Spotify spokesperson Jeanne Moran said in an email. “Spotify will quickly move to submit app updates to Apple, improving the experience for consumers across the country.”