As expected, Epic Games has appealed a court ruling in its spat with Apple

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iPad mini 5
iPad mini 5 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Just as was expected, Epic Games has appealed the decision that saw it lose nine of 10 counts in a recent legal spat with Apple.
  • The appeal was lodged late Sunday with no details offered as to why it feels the ruling was incorrect.

Just as was expected by everyone, Epic Games has now appealed a ruling which saw it lose nine of 10 counts in its legal argument with Apple. That appeal will now likely keep lawyers and journalists busy for a few more months at least.

While it could be argued that Apple lost out in one important way, Epic Games and CEO Tim Sweeney are not satiated. While a judge has now ordered Apple to no longer prevent app developers from linking out to alternative payment systems, Epic Games wants more. And it's appealing in an attempt to get it.

Apple, for its part, was happy with the outcome of the lawsuit — saying that it again proves that its App Store is not in violation of antitrust law.

Today the Court has affirmed what we've known all along: the App Store is not in violation of antitrust law. As the Court recognized 'success is not illegal.' Apple faces rigorous competition in every segment in which we do business, and we believe customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world. We remain committed to ensuring the App Store is a safe and trusted marketplace that supports a thriving developer community and more than 2.1 million U.S. jobs, and where the rules apply equally to everyone.

However, following Apple's appeal, it now looks like we will once again find ourselves in court. Epic's appeal doesn't explain why it feels the ruling was incorrect, however. We'll have to wait to find out what legal stance it will be taking at a later date. However, it's clear what outcome Epic is looking for here — it wants to be allowed to offer Fortnite and other games via its own Epic Store, installable on iPhones and iPads around the world. As with so many things, it isn't immediately clear whether that would be the best move for customers, or not.

Apple will no doubt wish this wasn't all happening on the eve of its big iPhone 13 announcement, a device that will very likely be the best iPhone it has ever sold.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.