Apple Retains Gibson Dunn Lawyers From Samsung Case to Combat Epic Games

[MacRumors]

Apple will use lawyers from Gibson Dunn, the same firm that spearheaded the second Apple v. Samsung action, in its bid to fend off a private antitrust suit leveled by Epic Games, according to software patent and litigation expert Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents.

Last week, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after Epic Games introduced a direct payment option in the app, defying App Store rules. In what appears to have been an orchestrated move, Epic Games promptly filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of anti-competitive actions. Gibson Dunn has been selected to stand as counsel for Apple before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in the case.

The firm has represented Apple in high-profile litigation cases in the past, such as the second Apple v. Samsung case. Apple filed a lawsuit in February 2012 claiming that Samsung had violated five Apple patents. Samsung responded with a counterclaim, stating that two patents had been infringed on by Apple. Apple was awarded $539 million in damages as a result.

Interestingly, Gibson Dunn has also counseled against Apple in the Apple v. Qualcomm antitrust and contract litigation in the Southern District of California. The case saw Gibson Dunn attorneys counsel Apple's contract manufacturer when Apple refused to pay royalties on Qualcomm's intellectual property.

"The court is almost certainly going to ask why Epic can't just live and comply with the same app developer agreement it had been honoring for years, gladly making a billion-dollar amount, while this litigation is ongoing," Mueller speculated.

The first Epic Games v. Apple encounter in court is scheduled to take place on Monday in the form of a Zoom videoconference. Epic Games now faces the threat of its Apple Developer Program account being terminated on August 28 unless it resolves violations of Apple's Developer Program License Agreement.

Article Link: Apple Retains Gibson Dunn Lawyers From Samsung Case to Combat Epic Games

 

[cocky jeremy]

B-u-r-y T-h-e-m. End that company and that stupid, idiotic, terrible game.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

What? Live and comply? Nah we're living in a world of narcissists.

Epic know's that the 12 year olds will lap up this P.R stunt like one of their limited 'costumes'; despite having no knowledge of basic business practices.

 

[Regbial]

Cue “daddy Apple can do no wrong” people in 3...2...1...

Not big fan of either company btw. I will say.. that quote does put things into perspective. 😬 Wonder how Epic will respond to it..

 

[DarthJarJar]

Can’t wait for the Tencent ban to kick in.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Law firms must love these companies bickering with each other. They get paid no matter which side they are on.

 

[I7guy]

Epic fight coming up...pun intended.

 

[Aluminum213]

God bless you Apple, wish you luck

 

[LeeW]

Right or wrong, Apple is in the strongest position over this right now. That is all they need. There is no way they are going to give in to any developer, maybe one day they will be forced into 'thinking different', not today, not in this case.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Law firms must love these companies bickering with each other. They get paid no matter which side they are on.

Well yeah, that's kinda the whole point... 🤔

 

[russell_314]

All these people thinking Epic is the underdog don’t quite realize this whole thing is being backed by the CCP. This is a payback for what the USA did to Huawei.

 

[I7guy]

Right or wrong, Apple is in the strongest position over this right now. That is all they need. There is no way they are going to give in to any developer, maybe one day they will be forced into 'thinking different', not today, not in this case.

Not “thinking different”, “doing different”.

 

[newdeal]

Epic is going to lose this one badly I would assume. Apple will fight this to the death because their app store revenue cut would be in jeopardy for every app on the store if they were to lose.

 

[msp3]

Interestingly, Gibson Dunn has also counseled against Apple in the Apple v. Qualcomm antitrust and contract litigation in the Southern District of California. The case saw Gibson Dunn attorneys counsel Apple's contract manufacturer when Apple refused to pay royalties on Qualcomm's intellectual property.

Why is this interesting in the least? A good law firm (as we know from endless legal dramas) argues in favor of its client and shills for whatever point that makes their case. People who think there are "absolutes" when it comes to who's right and wrong are delusional

 

[GadgetBen]

"The court is almost certainly going to ask why Epic can't just live and comply with the same app developer agreement it had been honoring for years, gladly making a billion-dollar amount, while this litigation is ongoing,"

There's the money shot.

 

[Vyse2020]

B-u-r-y T-h-e-m. End that company and that stupid, idiotic, terrible game.

Considering how much the Unreal Engine is used in the video game industry, “ending” Epic games would have some pretty damaging side effects for the industry.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

All the people rooting for Apple here - are any of you actually developers that sell apps or In-App Purchases?

I can’t imagine anyone that has put in the thousands of hours of work to make an app, then thinks it’s cool that Apple does virtually nothing but receives a 30% cut.

What Apple does here is rent seeking, plain and simple. They’re a leach providing nothing of value. They’re a middle man to an actual payment processor which would charge less than 3% (and Apple has likely negotiated for a much lower rate than the 3% an independent developer would pay.) Apple charges 10x while adding absolutely nothing, just because they can.

The practice is without a doubt immoral, and I expect that at least some courts in the world will find it illegal.

 

[cocky jeremy]

All the people rooting for Apple here - are any of you actually developers that sell apps or In-App Purchases?

I can’t imagine anyone that has put in the thousands of hours of work to make an app, then thinks it’s cool that Apple does virtually nothing but receives a 30% cut.

What Apple does here is rent seeking, plain and simple. They’re a leach providing nothing of value. They’re a middle man to an actual payment processor which would charge less than 3% (and Apple has likely negotiated for a much lower rate than the 3% an independent developer would pay.) Apple charges 10x while adding absolutely nothing, just because they can.

The practice is without a doubt immoral, and I expect that at least some courts in the world will find it illegal.

LOL. This is hilarious. Provide nothing of value? These devs would be making 0% of $0 without Apple.

 

[Kaledatheone]

Cue “daddy Apple can do no wrong” people in 3...2...1...

Not big fan of either company btw. I will say.. that quote does put things into perspective. 😬 Wonder how Epic will respond to it..

Anyone that signs an agreement and then decides to want to change the details/rules of the agreement won't fly in a court of law. Agreement is exactly that. Apple is abiding by that agreement so should Epic. Nobody is stopping Epic from getting off the iOS app store!

 

[gplusplus]

People arguing that Apple provides value by providing the platform tend to forget that the apps are what makes the platform valuable. Would you want an iPhone/iPad if it didn’t have Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, Google Maps, Waze, SnapChat, you banking apps, investment apps, smart home apps, security apps, Slack, MS Office, WeChat, Zoom, Hulu, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and much more?

Imagine if literally ALL of these third party apps ceased to exist on iPhone and iPad. The platform would be worthless.

So yes, Apple needs third party developers quite badly. They should treat them better.

 

[DaveSanDiego]

Personally I agree with EPIC here, not necessarialy the manner in which they started this fight, but what they are fighting for. It is near impossible for the "average( developer to make any money these days, becuase of the 30% "Apple Tax", the monopolistic restrictions mandating, how where and to whom you can distribute your work. People have said if you don't like it, don't use it. Well unlike in the past, you have no choice. To service the Apple market, you are subject to their rules. And unlike a "brick and mortar" store, the "cost" of maintaining a digitial market place is pennies per app .

And I wonder if/when DISNEY will become involved... as they have a horse in this race. The new STAR WARS "Galaxy Edge" at the California and Florida Theme Parks has a HUGE investment in the Epic Unreal Engine (it powers the Milliemum Falcon and other attractions), not to mention used in the production of "The Mandalorian".

 

[Kaledatheone]

All the people rooting for Apple here - are any of you actually developers that sell apps or In-App Purchases?

I can’t imagine anyone that has put in the thousands of hours of work to make an app, then thinks it’s cool that Apple does virtually nothing but receives a 30% cut.

What Apple does here is rent seeking, plain and simple. They’re a leach providing nothing of value. They’re a middle man to an actual payment processor which would charge less than 3% (and Apple has likely negotiated for a much lower rate than the 3% an independent developer would pay.) Apple charges 10x while adding absolutely nothing, just because they can.

The practice is without a doubt immoral, and I expect that at least some courts in the world will find it illegal.

And you think the Apple Developer tools like Xcode and the curation work, all the servers etc that Apple has to upkeep is nothing? Get real. Apple's 30% goes for all this infrastructure support and tools development. And then there are all those free apps for which Apple charges nothing!

 

[gnasher729]

Considering how much the Unreal Engine is used in the video game industry, “ending” Epic games would have some pretty damaging side effects for the industry.

Why would they stop selling the Unreal Engine?

 

[mielie]

All the people rooting for Apple here - are any of you actually developers that sell apps or In-App Purchases?

I can’t imagine anyone that has put in the thousands of hours of work to make an app, then thinks it’s cool that Apple does virtually nothing but receives a 30% cut.

What Apple does here is rent seeking, plain and simple. They’re a leach providing nothing of value. They’re a middle man to an actual payment processor which would charge less than 3% (and Apple has likely negotiated for a much lower rate than the 3% an independent developer would pay.) Apple charges 10x while adding absolutely nothing, just because they can.

The practice is without a doubt immoral, and I expect that at least some courts in the world will find it illegal.

If you are a developer, you've probably not been one for long. When I started, we had to spend large sums of money on development tool-kits, IDE's, compilers, access to resources like API documentation, etc. You then needed to spend a small fortune on marketing your products, finding vendors and distributors, providing support mechanisms, handling returns, etc.

IMHO developers have never had it this good. Not only are almost all the tools now provided as part of the developer subscription (in fact, you don't even need the subscription for Xcode, which is still my favourite IDE), but Apple have created a marketplace that has global reach, on a platform that is secure, reliable and easy to develop for. Apple manages all aspects of distribution, ensuring my products can be purchased and distributed in just about any country in the world. I don't even need to worry about different currencies!

Just my two cents worth, I certainly wouldn't want things to go back to how they were before, and I'm happy to pay Apple a percentage on my sales for this totally awesome ecosystem.

 

[gnipgnop]

Personally I agree with EPIC here, not necessarialy the manner in which they started this fight, but what they are fighting for. It is near impossible for the "average( developer to make any money these days, becuase of the 30% "Apple Tax", the monopolistic restrictions mandating, how where and to whom you can distribute your work.

How is it possible for anyone to make money selling at Walmart? Walmart doesn't give people 70% of the retail price. A typical Walmart deal would give the seller 25% above their cost to manufacture. That's it. Sellers have to figure out how to make that 25% profitable.