You may have heard by now about the raging legal battle between game maker Epic and Apple. While we await for the progress in the lawsuit in the States, the one in Australia is now going to go forward after being put on hold by a judge’s decision, reports AppleInsider.
The Australian Full Federal Court has overruled a previous decision to put the Epic vs Apple lawsuit on hold
Epic has filed a lawsuit against Apple’s 30% fee imposed on purchases made via the App Store in the US, the UK, and Australia. Currently, the US case is under development, and the UK one was dismissed in February. Now, the court has allowed the lawsuit to move forward in Australia, although it was previously put on hold for a three-month period. Epic first filed the lawsuit in Australia back in November, alleging that Apple’s tight control over the App Store was going against Australia’s antitrust regulations. Then, in April, the case in Australia was put on hold for three months. The hold would have been made permanent if Epic failed to move forward with the very similar case in the States.
However, Epic appealed this ruling and now, the Full Federal Court has removed the hold. Epic stated that it is pleased the case is allowed to proceed and that it will be examined in the context of the Australian laws. The company added that developers are entitled to fair access and competitive pricing on mobile platforms.
Apple has then issued a statement that it will appeal this decision.
For reference, the entire ordeal started when Epic’s game Fortnite offered an alternative way of payment, bypassing the App Store’s 30% commission. Apple then took the game out of the App Store and deactivated Epic’s developer account, which in turn caused Epic to launch a lawsuit against Cupertino. In the US, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will be ruling on the lawsuit in the coming months.
