The bitter feud between Apple and Epic Games continues in the US courts, with Apple now given the chance to put forward its arguments.
Using 500 pages of internal documents, Apple has claimed that Epic planned to attack it (and Google) as early as 2008, as part of a plan that became known as Project Liberty.
Two years ago, Epic Games hired a PR company that was tasked with painting Apple as a villain. This was before the software firm secretly added alternative payment methods in Fortnite for iOS, which were activated using a ‘bug fix’. When Apple discovered the rule violation, it had no choice – it claims – but to throw Fortnite out of the App Store, which happened in August 2020.
When Fortnite was removed from the App Store, the legal battle was described as “fun!” in an Epic internal document, reports MacRumors.
According to Apple, Epic’s description of the App Store as a monopoly is incorrect, as it is possible to play Fortnite on a wide range of other devices. (In a separate submission to the Australian competition regulator, the company presented similar arguments against the notion that the App Store is monopolistic.)
If everything goes as planned, the trial will conclude at the end of May, but appeals to higher courts are likely to follow. This dispute could last for years.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
