Epic Games Gets Partial Relief in Legal Battle with Apple

[btarunr]

Epic Games and Apple are engaged in an ugly legal battle over Epic's decision to add an in-app payment system for "Fortnite," in violation of Apple's terms. All in-game micro-transactions are expected to be routed through the App Store. Apple essentially de-platformed Epic Games, and "Fortnite," which would have far-reaching implications including restrictions on third-party games using the Unreal Engine. On Monday, Epic Games got a partial and temporary relief against Apple's action, in the form of a temporary restraining order which prevents Apple from terminating the developer accounts of Epic Games, and restricting the use of Unreal Engine by game developers on Apple platforms.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hearing the matter, however ruled that Apple isn't required to restore "Fortnite," which it banned after Epic Games added its in-game payments system that stepped on Apple's toes. Epic Games in its prayer to the Court argued that Apple's actions brought "irreparable harm" to the company. The Court disagreed. "The Court finds that with respect to Epic Games' motion as to its games, including Fortnite, Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm. The current predicament appears of its own making." She argued that Epic Games "strategically chose to breach its agreements with Apple."



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[Slizzo]

He argued that Epic Games "strategically chose to breach its agreements with Apple."

The judge is female.

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mouacyk]

"The current predicament appears of its own making ."

Sounds fair enough, given Epic breached the TOS to test the waters.

 

[Dredi]

The judge is female.

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

How is this relevant?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm sure there were discussions and a lot of back and forth with Apple prior to deciding to breach TOS, but its obvious Apple overreacted ( probably due to petty bickering, "your momma's sooo fat" type crap) with trying to ban Epic as a whole when Apple should have just removed the offending game(s) and saved the drama for when it really matters.

How is this relevant?

its not. but Im betting it runs along the lines that female judges dont game.

 

[kapone32]

The problem I have with this is that Apple was fully aware that Epic was "breaking the rules" well before they cut them off. This is a time not unlike the 1890s where you have these singular entities in a new industry, with lax regulation and tax jockeying for position in the space. They have grown big enough in their egos and pocketbooks to try to use the courts to settle their differences. Neither company will lose in the end because both of these companies make so much money an hour it is laughable.

 

[R0H1T]

but its obvious Apple overreacted

Not necessarily, check the back & forth between the two over email ~

Email Exhibits From Epic v. Apple | PDF | App Store (I Os) | Ios

Exhibits D through I in the Schiller declaration filed Aug 21

www.scribd.com

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Not necessarily, check the back & forth between the two over email ~

Email Exhibits From Epic v. Apple | PDF | App Store (I Os) | Ios

Exhibits D through I in the Schiller declaration filed Aug 21

www.scribd.com

LOL
Exhibit E

We know that Epic knows this.

We know that you know what we know that you know we know, and furthermore, we knew it all along.

 

[Vya Domus]

Not necessarily, check the back & forth between the two over email

I love how Apple couldn't help themselves but keep talking as if they were advertising how great their platform is in these dumb ass emails.

 

[thesmokingman]

App store is nothing but a store front, a consigner at most. And they demand all yore moneys.

Imagine if this were translated to the days before online book sales. All them magazines that have subscription offer cards in them, now have to pay 30% to Barnes and Noble for every subscription! Would shit like that fly back then?

 

[Chrispy_]

So the Judge in this case has already cited that Epic "chose to breach its agreements", thus invalidating the legal agreement that would let them sue successfully in the first place. No matter how much noise Epic makes, the lawsuit is already closed from a legal standpoint because the judge isn't an idiot.

Will Epic get what they really want - enough media coverage to provoke a more in-depth review of the Apple and Google store ecosystems regarding anti-competition/monopoly laws?

Perhaps, but that's going to open a whole can of worms and I'm willing to bet that Google and Apple's combined legal teams have already gone through their terms with a fine toothcomb; fine enough that the law will have to be changed rather than there being any infringement up to that point.

 

[Crackong]

The current predicament appears of its own making.
strategically chose to breach its agreements with Apple.

This law suit is already done

 

[milewski1015]

How is this relevant?

They were correcting a typo - look at the text they quoted, it says "He" instead of "She"

 

[Renald]

I'm ok with the whole decision :
- Apple went to far making an example with all dev accounts and Unreal Engine
- Fortnite app broke TOS, so it get banned until further notice

Pretty much in line with most comments on the matter across different topics.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Guess the lawyers are the most mad but heck they are on retainers so guess all is good but I'm sure they wanted more court time

 

[Slizzo]

They were correcting a typo - look at the text they quoted, it says "He" instead of "She"

Exactly. First this was posted with a slight error. Just helping @btarunr make sure that it was correct.

It's also worth noting that this judge also presided over a jury trial in 2014 in which Apple was shown to not be monopolistic in it's app store practices. Which sucks for us because it does seem from everything that has been leaking out lately that they ARE monopolistic in their app store practices. I know she has no say over that decision obviously as it was a jury trial.

 

[rtwjunkie]

How is this relevant?

its not. but Im betting it runs along the lines that female judges dont game.

It’s just a pronoun correction by Slizzo to the article.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Epic purposefully broke the TOS. Apple fired back twice as hard. This is how business gets done.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

Exactly. First this was posted with a slight error. Just helping @btarunr make sure that it was correct.

It's also worth noting that this judge also presided over a jury trial in 2014 in which Apple was shown to not be monopolistic in it's app store practices. Which sucks for us because it does seem from everything that has been leaking out lately that they ARE monopolistic in their app store practices. I know she has no say over that decision obviously as it was a jury trial.

Wouldn't that be conflict of intrest?

 

[jayseearr]

So how exactly does this move affect fortnite's mobile player base? Some kid on warzone last night was talking about how he had a mobile account with 1,400$ spent on it that was pretty much rendered useless in his eyes because now he isn't allowed to transfer his stuff over to another platform or something along those lines? maybe he was mis-informed or i mis-understood what his problem was. But either way it sounds like epics attempt at sh*tting on apple actually resulted in them sh*tting on a portion of their own player base...I respect epic for having the balls, but at the end of the day apple or google will just end up squashing them like the bug that they are (comparatively). Sounds like they maybe should have approached the issue in a more calculated manner

 

[Slizzo]

Epic isn't as small as you think they are. Don't forget their Chinese benefactors have a lot of cash as well.

 

[Fleurious]

Reading through the correspondence I find myself wanting to see Epic’s case thrown out and and the punitive actions (removing Unreal Engine SDK?) be upheld. Don’t use Apple’s walled garden if you don’t like it.

This is coming from someone who’s only personal Apple product is an iphone provided by my employer.

 

[ThrashZone]

Epic isn't as small as you think they are. Don't forget their Chinese benefactors have a lot of cash as well.

Hi,
Hopefully they can pay apple and googles lawyer fees for this frivolous lawsuit.

 

[Chrispy_]

Epic isn't as small as you think they are. Don't forget their Chinese benefactors have a lot of cash as well.

Enough cash to replace Tim Sweeney if he does anything that's too expensively stupid.

 

[lexluthermiester]

So the Judge in this case has already cited that Epic "chose to breach its agreements", thus invalidating the legal agreement that would let them sue successfully in the first place. No matter how much noise Epic makes, the lawsuit is already closed from a legal standpoint because the judge isn't an idiot.

That conclusion is incorrect and reveals how much you misunderstand the legal system. This fight is not over.