Epic Games score major victory in lawsuit vs Apple over Fortnite and App Store

Nick Farrell
apple vs epic

The ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple has reached a new stage in Australia, and it’s a win in Epic Games’ ongoing litigation.

While Fortnite Season 7 is well underway, lauded as one of the best seasons in Chapter 2, the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple has been slowly proceeding in court.

Mobile players are eager to once again play the game on their iOS devices, and now, a new ruling has just been laid in court in Australia which is a massive early victory for Epic Games over Apple. But, there’s still a long way to go.

epic games
Epic Games initially sued Apple back in August of 2020.

Epic secures major victory in court

The court battle between the two major corporations has been ongoing within the United States, but also Australia – and there has been some progress made down under.

The basic premise of how the legal action between Epic and Apple initially began, was due to the fact that Fortnite added a payment system within their mobile entity, which allowed players to negate the 30% App Store fee that players would normally have to pay.

This trigger Apple to remove the game from their App Store, and thus, Epic sued the company and have been in legal battles in court since.

fortnite
Fortnite has still continued to update their game, even though it’s not available on iOS.

However, Apple appealed the case in Australia, arguing that the case should be limited to the US District Court. However, Epic counter-appealed arguing that a separate trial in Australia is justified as it is a public policy concern.

On July 9, the Federal Court in Australia ruled in favor of Epic Games, and the trial there will go ahead.

Apple plans to appeal the decision however, with a spokesperson stating: “The initial decision in April from Australia’s Federal Court correctly ruled that Epic should be held to the agreement it made to resolve disputes in California. We respectfully disagree with the ruling made today and plan to appeal.”

Both parties are still waiting for the judgment to be laid down within the US courts, which should come in the next couple of months.

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About The Author

Nick is a former Dexerto Games Writer based in Newfoundland, Canada, who covered a wide array of games and esports. Nick has published bylines at multiple outlets such as G FUEL, NME, Gfinity.