The authorities of 35 American states appealed to the court with a request to recognize Apple as a monopolist
Epic Games has gained new allies in the proceedings with Apple. The attorneys general of 35 American states sided with Tim Sweeney‘s company. They demanded that the court reconsider the verdict in the case and recognize Apple as a monopolist.
Photo: Bloomberg
In a statement sent to the court, the state authorities claim that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made a mistake when analyzing the rules of the App Store.
Allegedly, she could not weigh all the arguments for and against them, and also did not pay attention to the agreements that Apple imposes on developers and from which they cannot refuse.
“Paradoxically, companies that have enough market power to unilaterally impose contracts may not be afraid of antimonopoly services. Although it is these companies that raise the most questions about compliance with antimonopoly legislation,” the statement says.
The state authorities are not the only ones who supported Epic Games. According to Bloomberg, the authors of Fortnite also enlisted the support of Microsoft, an organization for the protection of citizens’ freedom in cyberspace, a consumer protection group and 38 professors of law, economics and business. Note that at least Microsoft representatives have previously appeared in court as Epic Games witnesses.
The US Department of Justice also stated that the court made legal mistakes when passing a verdict in the case of Epic Games and Apple. However, the department refused to definitively take sides in the conflict.
Apple has already commented on what happened. The company said it is optimistic about the future and believes the court will reject Epic Games’ appeal.
The conflict between the companies has been going on since August 2020. It started after the removal of the Fortnite game from the App Store. The court proceedings were supposed to end last September. Then the court rejected 9 out of 10 claims of Epic Games and ordered Apple to allow developers to add links to other payment methods to applications. This verdict did not suit any of the companies, so they soon filed appeals.
