Epic Wins Appeal to Continue Antitrust Case Against Apple in Australia

[MacRumors]

Australia's Federal Court has permitted Epic Games to sue Apple, reversing a previous ruling that said the two companies had to battle it out in the United States first before any legal action could take place Down Under.

Epic and Apple are involved in a highly public lawsuit in the United States, but Epic has also sued Apple in other countries, including Australia last November, in an attempt to boost its chances of getting a favorable ruling.

Epic's case in Australia follows much of the same argument in the U.S., claiming that Apple is a monopoly and that the ‌App Store‌ and in-app purchasing system are unfair.

Apple argued that the case was already being tried in California courts, and won a three-month stay on the Australian action that would become permanent unless Epic filed a lawsuit in California alleging violations of Australian Consumer Law.

Epic appealed that decision in April, and on Friday morning three Federal Court judges duly granted it, finding that the presiding judge who permitted the stay of action had failed to consider that the lawsuit involves public interest issues, which take priority over exclusive jurisdictional stipulations. Epic said it was pleased with the outcome.

"This is a positive step forward for Australian consumers and developers, who are entitled to fair access and competitive pricing across mobile app stores," the company said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing our fight for increased competition in app distribution and payment processing in Australia and around the world."

Apple said it would appeal the decision, on grounds that its contract with Epic requires that the two companies litigate in California.

"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," said Apple in a statement. "We respectfully disagree with the ruling made today and plan to appeal."

Apple in March told an Australian court that Epic's legal challenge against the App Store is "self-serving," and that all the software company aims to do is "redefine the terms of access" that it's always been subject to on Apple's platforms.

The three-week Epic Games v. Apple trial wrapped up in the States in late May, but it could be several weeks before we learn of the verdict, and it's quite likely that any decision will be appealed, so this is a lawsuit that could carry on for months to come both in the U.S. and abroad.

(Via The Australian Financial Review.)

Article Link: Epic Wins Appeal to Continue Antitrust Case Against Apple in Australia

 

[ruka.snow]

Great, we get to hear about this pandemic for another year on top of the other one.

 

[SurferPup]

I'm one Aussie that Epic Failure and Aussie Torment Office (our version of your IRS) will make no money from the sale of their games in or outside of the App Store. I hope Epic financially haemorhrage fatally here. Our stupid Government should stay out of what is essentially an American legal court battle.

 

[mymacrumorsname]

In Australia indeed iOS is the most installed OS on mobile devices. I didn't know that there is a country in which Apple has the biggest marketshare except for us of a. Here in Spain for example Android is installed on 80% of all devices.

 

[Pakaku]

I'm one Aussie that Epic Failure and Aussie Torment Office (our version of your IRS) will make no money from the sale of their games in or outside of the App Store. I hope Epic financially haemorhrage fatally here. Our stupid Government should stay out of what is essentially an American legal court battle.

Epic makes some good games, and I feel sorry for the game devs who just want to make games and have to put up with the egos in charge of EGS and these lawsuits.

 

[Minxy]

I can confidently speak on behalf of every single Macrumors forum member and say we are all absolutely delighted by this news, as we are in no way uncritical of a brand just because it makes some good products, and we hope Epic takes Apple to task.

 

[macintoshmac]

People here are going to become keyboard warriors in a few hours as they come and discover the news.

 

[Da_Hood]

I'm one Aussie that Epic Failure and Aussie Torment Office (our version of your IRS) will make no money from the sale of their games in or outside of the App Store. I hope Epic financially haemorhrage fatally here. Our stupid Government should stay out of what is essentially an American legal court battle.

Courts are independent of government, but if you think the ATO has a vendetta against you I can see why you would think otherwise.

 

[312432]

If epic win , you can still choose not to sideload

It's time to let apple be open

 

[Wildkraut]

Loving it! 🤣 Governments are finally waking up, and will beat the hell out of these shady companies like Apple and Google.
I’m looking forward to side loading.

 

[mymacrumorsname]

Loving it! 🤣 Governments are finally waking up, and will beat the hell out of these shady companies like Apple and Google.
I’m looking forward to side loading.

What would be the advantage to that, to side loading? Or in other words, why do you want / need that?

 

[Apple Core]

I'm one Aussie that Epic Failure and Aussie Torment Office (our version of your IRS) will make no money from the sale of their games in or outside of the App Store. I hope Epic financially haemorhrage fatally here. Our stupid Government should stay out of what is essentially an American legal court battle.

100% agree. Australia should stay out of this!

 

[falkon-engine]

It’s just a matter of time before the hammer drops. Apple has already made many billions of dollars from the App Store. They should get out in front of all of this legal trouble and open up under terms they can control vs what a court or a government might force them to do. But I guess they’ll fight this to the bitter end.

 

[Puonti]

If epic win , you can still choose not to sideload

Unless the app you are interested in is not distributed through the App Store, of course.

 

[falkon-engine]

Unless the app you are interested in is not distributed through the App Store, of course.

And that is the competition that will likely pressure Apple to change its terms. Either Apple’s terms are competitive, or there is an exodus of apps to other platforms. But there will also be pressure for developers to keep apps in the most used app stores, as failure to do so will mean less of an audience and less revenue.

But more choice will allow market forces, not Apple, to decide how things will play out. This is what the governments want… for the market to decide what apps and app stores become profitable without undue influence from Apple.

 

[Puonti]

But there will be pressure for developers to keep apps in the most used app stores, failure to do so will mean less of an audience and less revenue.

It would also depend on just what the added development, deployment and customer support requirements for supporting additional app stores would be like for developers. What little I know from the Android side is that separate builds and QA are required for Google Play and the Amazon Appstore for instance.

For some developers the extra work and costs might be an obstacle or a speedbump, and I wouldn't fault them for minimizing both if given the option (I mean, some of that's at the core of the arguments against Apple's App Store to begin with). It's difficult to predict.

 

[scaramoosh]

Good, just a shame the win was in Australia.... make the win in the EU or the US and Apple will have to do something.

 

[Naraxus]

Hear hear! Smart move on Australia's part. More and more countries around the world are looking into the immoral and monoplistic App Store behaviour of Apple. Their stranglehold is coming to an end!

 

[RebeccaL]

What would be the advantage to that, to side loading? Or in other words, why do you want / need that?

Not having to pay a single cent for games and apps!

 

[Agit21]

What would be the advantage to that, to side loading? Or in other words, why do you want / need that?

Parler!

I don’t want Apple to tell me which app can or can’t be installed.

 

[Kirkster]

The only winners are the lawyers.

If you want to sideload the latest spyware/malware from China, Russia, Nigeria, etc there is already a device for that, Knock yourselves out.

I don’t mind paying for apps that fit my needs, but I am loath to be the product, that seems to be the current business model of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and many others.

I find value in the walled garden that is the App Store. Do they catch every bad actor? No one ever will, but they do a better job of protecting their user base than most. Nothing is perfect but I like the steps that apple has been taking for security and privacy far more that the other manufacturer where you are their product.

 

[RavynArcadia]

Parler!

I don’t want Apple to tell me which app can or can’t be installed.

I wouldn’t call parler being usable via sideloading an advantage.

 

[ForkHandles]

I wonder where Epic get all their money from to sue Apple in every jurisdiction across the world?

Oh yes, the App Store, that's right.

 

[nebo1ss]

The only winners are the lawyers.

If you want to sideload the latest spyware/malware from China, Russia, Nigeria, etc there is already a device for that, Knock yourselves out.

I don’t mind paying for apps that fit my needs, but I am loath to be the product, that seems to be the current business model of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and many others.

I find value in the walled garden that is the App Store. Do they catch every bad actor? No one ever will, but they do a better job of protecting their user base than most. Nothing is perfect but I like the steps that apple has been taking for security and privacy far more that the other manufacturer where you are their product.

I am unsure why everyone is talking about side-loading apps. Surely what Epic and many other are looking for is to be able to support in app purchases outside of the app store suing their own payment system.

 

[adamdport]

If epic win , you can still choose not to sideload

Bad actors can get really sneaky with how things are installed. That's like saying "you can still choose not to download viruses". I guess as long as they have a toggle in settings to disable sideloading then whatever.