GoKawiilApple suffered a significant setback in its case against Epic Games today, as the Ninth Circuit denied both of its rehearing petitions. Here are the details.
A very compressed bit of context
Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple in August 2020 with 10 claims, after being removed from the App Store.
Apple took action after Epic changed Fortnite’s in-app purchase system to bypass App Store rules, a move later confirmed to be deliberate.
Following a lengthy legal battle, Apple was found to have violated California’s Unfair Competition Law by restricting developers’ ability to steer users to alternative payment methods.
That ended up being Epic’s only win, with the court rejecting the other nine claims.
But it was a significant win, particularly after last year, when Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in breach of her original 2021 ruling and ordered the company to allow developers to link out to alternative payment methods without imposing restrictions.
Apple, in turn, argued that the order improperly broadened the original ruling (which applied only to Epic), and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The court of appeals then heard Apple’s case with a three-judge panel, and largely upheld the lower court’s decision.
This led Apple to file two petitions: one asking for a rehearing before the same three judges who heard the case. The second, asking for a rehearing en banc, which would have the full Ninth Circuit reconsider the decision.
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