Epic Sues Apple and Google due to Fortnite getting pulled [2020-08-13, 2021-05-03]

All those Apple lost/Epic won articles are literally one the most outrageous pieces fake news bollocks I've ever seen. None of those inbred twats masquerading as "journalists" actually took the time to read the full judgment (or are paid by Epic to make shit up?) it's simply amazing.

Final Judgment: PDF

Apple is still entitled to its commission/fee no matter what:
Screenshot-2.jpg


Conclusion:

Screenshot-2s.jpg


Apple didn't loose a damn thing on the contrary. They even got Timmy the sociopath to cut them a $6M cheque for his failed stunt.
 
All those Apple lost/Epic won articles are literally one the most outrageous pieces fake news bollocks I've ever seen. None of those inbred twats masquerading as "journalists" actually took the time to read the full judgment (or are paid by Epic to make shit up?) it's simply amazing.

Final Judgment: PDF

Apple is still entitled to its commission/fee no matter what:

Conclusion:
Apple didn't loose a damn thing on the contrary. They even got Timmy the sociopath to cut them a $6M cheque for his failed stunt.
The $6 million judgement was for that one instance back when Epic did violate Apple store policy, but now that policy no longer holds water.
Now as it stands Apple can not stop developers from using their own payment systems.

Last week, this act of strategic legal trolling paid off when the lawsuit concluded and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made a surprising and rare decision against Apple. The company would no longer be able to ban developers from using their own payment systems through iPhone apps; other “purchasing mechanisms” would be allowed, she wrote. In other words, when the ruling takes effect, in three months, Apple will no longer be fully in control of how users pay for things through iPhone apps.
...
The judge’s decision moves in the direction of openness—but not too far. Epic would have preferred to pay Apple no fee whatsoever, but Gonzalez Rogers held that Apple was justified in charging for the use of its App Store. Otherwise, it would suffer from “the uncompensated use of its intellectual property,” she wrote: Apple invested in the store infrastructure, so it should get paid for it. On the other hand, Apple’s “anti-steering” policy, which prohibited developers from informing their users of Apple’s fee, let alone avoiding it, was found to be illegal. Running a marketplace is fine, as is kicking out those who don’t comply with the rules, but clients of the marketplace can’t be trapped into only using Apple’s tools instead of their own.

Yet Epic lost as much in the ruling as it won. (The video-game company is now appealing the case.) Gonzalez Rogers determined that Apple’s App Store did not, as Epic had charged, constitute a monopoly—at least not at the moment. According to the decision, Apple controls fifty-five per cent of transactions in mobile gaming, and is “near the precipice of substantial market power.” What prevents it from monopolizing the industry is the significant competition posed by the likes of Nintendo and the cloud-gaming service Steam. While Apple and Google certainly have a duopoly on phone hardware in the United States, they are contending with a growing number of alternative digital marketplaces. Gonzalez Rogers estimated that the mobile-gaming market is worth a hundred billion dollars annually; Apple will now have a little bit less of a chokehold on it.

From a user-experience perspective, the ruling could have immediate benefits. Netflix, for instance, will be able to introduce a direct Subscribe button within its app, and offer a discount to encourage its use, as Epic did with V-Bucks. The changes may not be entirely convenient. App interfaces could become messier or less secure as developers introduce their own payment methods, sending users to Web-site pop-ups instead of frictionlessly applying the payment information saved within the App Store. Nevertheless, digital business models will be more sustainable as a result. If Gonzalez Rogers’s decision is any indication, the metaverse will not be monopolized.
How Epic Games Made a Dent in Apple’s App Store Domination | The New Yorker
 
I think that just goes to Ike's point that no place has actually bothered to read the Final Judgment, specifically the highlighted sentence:

"Under all models, Apple would be entitled to a commission or licensing fee, even if IAP was optional."
 
Agreed, but the good times are likely over for Apple since licensing fees won't amount to a 30% markup of using a developer's app.
 
I think that just goes to Ike's point that no place has actually bothered to read the Final Judgment, specifically the highlighted sentence:

"Under all models, Apple would be entitled to a commission or licensing fee, even if IAP was optional."
What does that mean exactly in this ruling? If an app for Netflix has a link to subscribe via their website, does that mean if the user subscribes via Netflix's website that they're still required to pay Apple the 30%? If that's the case, who is responsible for tracking the consumer's final purchase of the subscription, and that it was via the link from the iOS app?
 
All those Apple lost/Epic won articles are literally one the most outrageous pieces fake news bollocks I've ever seen.
Citations needed for the first point
I'll let you have the 2nd point because perhaps you haven't seen much fake news
 
Well there doesn’t seem to be too much sympathy for Epic and Sweeney publicly complaining about not being reinstated to the App Store.
 
I agree with this summary. Nothing requires Apple to give Epic its account back, but Apple absolutely lied when it kept claiming to the media that "agreeing to play by the rules" would get Epic reinstated.
Meh. The wording of the Sweeny request is either stupidly petulant or a deliberate provocation. They either should have or absolutely did expect this very outcome.
 
Apple Lies About Epic Again

I agree with this summary. Nothing requires Apple to give Epic its account back, but Apple absolutely lied when it kept claiming to the media that "agreeing to play by the rules" would get Epic reinstated.

It would be a lie if Apple refuse to allow Epic once the litigation is over. If you can avoid doing business with people you are in serious litigation with, you do. The court's verdict was that Epic had acted in a duplicitous manor, so why would Tim Apple trust Tim Epic at this time when Tim Epic immediately signalled his intention to appeal once he heard the verdict?
 
I disagree. Activation of a developer account does not, and should not, have any relationship with the parties' legal actions against each other, per the agreement. Revoking or withholding accounts contingent upon litigation is a clear chilling effect on all developers, and on top of contradicting its own public statements is an example of Apple arbitrarily abusing its power over developers to stifle dissent and action.

The court's verdict was that Epic had acted in a duplicitous manor, so why would Tim Apple trust Tim Epic at this time when Tim Epic immediately signalled his intention to appeal once he heard the verdict?

A legal appeal (including the floating of one) is not "duplicitous," that implication is societally offensive. In fact, any action on Epic's part contra the letter of the judgment would greatly threaten the success any such appeal, making Sweeney's promise to abide by the current rules all the stronger, and making Apple's rejection of said promise (after requesting it) all the more vindictive.
 
A legal appeal (including the floating of one) is not "duplicitous," that implication is societally offensive.

Nobody said it was. The court's view was of Epic's behaviour the last time they were allowed in the app store.

Epic abused trust previously and they do not accept the court's view - hence the appeal. Given that, if I was Tim Apple I do not believe I would be greatly trusting in Epic's behaviour until the legal dust has settled for good.
 
That makes no sense for the reason I stated: if Epic violated the rules after the court's decision then that would sink its own chances for an appeal, and thereby benefit Apple.

"Playing by the rules" (as stated by Apple and accepted by Epic) is not predicated on never fighting those rules' validity, otherwise any developer who spoke up for better treatment could be summarily locked out of the platform. Apple moving its goalposts in response shows that the original stated terms for reinstatement were made in bad faith, for the benefit of PR.
 
Apple moving its goalposts in response shows that the original stated terms for reinstatement were made in bad faith, for the benefit of PR.
If Epic had rolled over and bared its neck, I'm pretty sure Fortnite would have been back by now. Instead they made public a statement that, while on the surface benign, prodded, poked and provoked. Likely deliberately so. Almost daring Apple to tell them to fuck off. That's PR.

It's probably a sound legal strategy for Apple to simply not deal with Epic as long as the appeals go on (unless apple Apple was completely and utterly confident in their eventual victory). They have their walled garden to protect, so any short term financial gain allowing Epic back would provide is probably some way short of worth it in the current cost/benefit scenario.

Really no need to assign either punitive or vindictive motives to it.
 
Yes apple always puts their financial interests first and not the users of apple products (see china)

couple of apple stories over the last week ( this sort of stuff just happens each week with apple, but apple supporters like trump supporters with trump for some reason think they can do no wrong no matter how much the facts disagree, it really is a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field )
https://arstechnica.com/information...researcher-frustrated-with-apples-bug-bounty/
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...s-to-require-all-mobile-devices-to-use-usb-c/

WRT moral high ground the only big tech companies I rate worse than apple are facebook & uber & amazon. Others like Microsoft Google just seem to do better morally (of course both of those still do shitty thinks, as all big business does)
 
That makes no sense for the reason I stated: if Epic violated the rules after the court's decision then that would sink its own chances for an appeal, and thereby benefit Apple.
No it wouldn't, the appeal is entirely about revisiting the findings and merits of the original judgement. The appeal would not consider any new transgressions that Epic may engage in since that judgement. Apple would need to bring a case of their own.

Apple's stance seems intended to deter Epic for proceeding with any further legal cases beyond the appeal and perhaps even intended to sway Epic from not proceeding with that.
 
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litig...ntitrust-orders-it-appeals-ruling-2021-10-08/

Apple asks judge to pause Epic Games antitrust orders as it appeals ruling.

Oct 8 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Friday asked a U.S. federal judge to put on hold orders that could require it to change some of its App Store practices and said that it is also appealing the ruling in an antitrust case brought by "Fortnite" creator Epic Games, according to court filings.

U.S. district Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in September largely ruled in Apple's favor after a weeks-long trial. But she did require one key concession: Apple starting Dec. 9 could no longer prohibit app developers from including buttons or links in their apps that direct users to means of paying beside Apple's in-app payment system, which charges a commission to developers.

In her full 180-page ruling, Gonzalez Rogers expressed concern that developers were being prevented from communicating with iPhone users about alternative prices.

Apple said in Friday's filing that complying with the order could cause it and consumers harm. It said it expects to win an appeal challenging the order and that it wants the legal process, which could last about a year, to play out first.

...
 
Oct 8 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Friday asked a U.S. federal judge to put on hold orders that could require it to change some of its App Store practices and said that it is also appealing the ruling in an antitrust case brought by "Fortnite" creator Epic Games, according to court filings.

It's a win when both billion-dollar companies feel they lost. Although not enough of a win for consumers.
 
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