Epic Games, the company behind the widely played game Fortnite, uses another court filing to get back at Apple. Epic continues to maintain its focus on antitrust laws and claims that Apple’s practices are anti-competitive.
Antitrust cases are gaining power since the Trump Justice Department filed its antitrust lawsuit against Google. This provides Epic a more relaxed approach to reason its argument.
In the filing, Epic lawyers agreed that the company breached its contract with Apple and added that it was only done because Apple’s laws were illegal.
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The lawyers wrote, “When Epic took steps to allow consumers on iOS devices to make those payments directly, it breached some of the contractual restrictions that Apple imposes on iOS developers. Epic did so because those contractual restrictions are unlawful. Epic chose to take a stand against Apple’s monopoly to illustrate that competition could exist on iOS and that consumers would welcome and benefit from it. Epic did so without advance notice to Apple because Apple would otherwise have used its monopoly control to prevent that competition from happening.”
“Apple has no right to the fruits of Epic’s Labor”
EPIC GAMES
According to Epic, Apple’s contractual restrictions limit users and developers. Epic created an in-app purchasing option to avoid App Store’s 30 percent fee and gave users a more direct option. Epic’s lawyers added that Apple uses its tools like the App Store to maintain its monopoly. “Apple has no right to the fruits of Epic’s Labor,” Epic added. Apple is yet to respond to this recent filing from Epic.
What’s the ‘Epic Games vs. Apple’ Feud?
Back in August, Epic introduced a new payment method for its Fortnite app, which allowed users to directly purchase from Epic without paying the 30 percent Apple’s App Store commission. Epic pursued the same approach for the Android version, resulting in both tech giants removing Fortnite from their respective app stores.
READ MORE: Why is Fortnite banned on Apple? All you need to know!
Epic responded by filing a lawsuit against Apple, claiming it was violating antitrust law. Epic also informed that Apple threatened to put an end to its developer account that the company uses to support the Unreal Engine platform. Earlier this month, a US district judge passed an order that kept Fortnite off from App Store but did not allow Apple to retaliate against Unreal Engine.
Read the full Epic v. Apple counterclaims document here.
Featured image: Getty
