In a remarkable event, the renowned technological behemoth Apple has declared its intention to ask the Supreme Court to hear its appeal.
The appeal relates to a ruling made by a judge in an ongoing antitrust dispute that concerns limitations placed on the business’s payment procedures within the hugely significant Apple App Store.
Supreme Court Intervention in Antitrust Battle
The Big Tech company announced in a filing on Monday that it would ask the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a decision made by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in California, which upheld the majority of the court’s initial ruling regarding the lawsuit brought by Fortnite developer Epic Games against the company in 2021.
The business asked in the brief that the injunction, which would force Apple to modify a number of components of how it manages its app store’s transaction system, be postponed until it could file its appeal with the Supreme Court on Friday.
The initial 9th Circuit verdict, according to Apple’s attorneys, went too far by ordering a national injunction based on breaking California law. They assert that the petition would bring up significant and far-reaching issues.
Epic Games made the decision to make it possible for Fortnite users to save money by purchasing V-Bucks, the in-game currency, from the company’s website in August 2020.
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Apple’s Appeal In Epic Lawsuit
By doing so, Apple would no longer operate as a middleman and Epic would no longer be required to pay Apple a 30% transaction charge.
In retaliation, Apple removed Fortnite from its app store. The corporation was sued by Epic, who claimed that they were keeping a complete monopoly over the situation.
Apple was ordered to make changes to the app store after the court initially determined that the corporation had broken California’s Unfair Competition legislation rather than antitrust legislation, as Epic had previously claimed. In April 2023, the 9th Circuit upheld both judgments.
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