The court rejected two Apple counterclaims against Epic Games

Apple will not receive compensation and fines from Epic Games. A federal judge found the claims of an American corporation groundless.

The conflict between Apple and Epic broke out in mid-August. Since then, both companies have managed to send a lot of lawsuits and petitions to the court. But it seems that now the case has begun to get rid of all the excess. This time, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers (Yvonne Gonzales Rogers) did not support two Apple claims at once.

Apple’s position

• In its counterclaims, the company accused the authors of Fortnite of intentionally violating the rules of the App Store. According to Apple, the developers deliberately took this step in order not to pay a commission to the store.
• When Epic introduced its own monetization system into the battle royale, it deprived Apple of legitimate revenue. Moreover, by their actions, the owners of the game “like hackers” appropriated funds that Apple was supposed to dispose of.
• And if so, then Epic must return the money earned and pay a fine.

Opinion of the judge

• Gonzalez Rogers disagrees with Apple’s claims. She believes that the arguments given are not enough for tort lawsuits (they usually refer to the violation of private property and require compensation for damages).
• According to the judge, the corporation has not provided any evidence that Epic acted intentionally.

• Also, Apple’s lawyers could not provide documents that would confirm their ownership of what Epic allegedly took away. The only thing that really belonged to Apple was a 30% commission. But this is also a controversial issue, Gonzalez Rogers points out.

So far, neither Anna Casey nor John Karin— Apple’s and Epic’s lawyers, respectively—have made official comments. But one of Apple’s representatives managed to speak out on the incident. In his statement, he stressed that the company still believes that the incident should be considered based on the tort law of California.

The Apple representative also added that Fortnite developers “turned users into pawns.” But the corporation hopes to defend the interests of the players and, probably, all App Store customers during the next court hearing.

Further proceedings will take place in early May 2021. Initially, it was assumed that everything would take place in the format of a jury trial, but Apple and Epic were asked to do with only one judge.

Also on the topic:

• Fortnite will not return to the App Store until at least next summerEpic Games: Apple has no rights to the fruits of our labor
• A monthly subscription may appear in Fortnite
• Is there any news?