GoKawiilApple today formalized its challenge to the contempt ruling in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games, filing its opening merits brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. Here are the details.
A bit of context
As 9to5Mac readers know, the Supreme Court recently accepted Apple’s request to review a contempt ruling in the lawsuit Epic Games brought against the company in 2020.
In a nutshell, although Apple came out on top on most of Epic Games’ claims in the original lawsuit, it lost on one key point, with the court finding that Apple’s anti-steering rules violated California’s Unfair Competition Law.
As a result, the court issued a permanent injunction requiring Apple to allow developers to include links and other calls to action that direct users to third-party payment options.
The order read:
Apple Inc. and its officers, agents, servants, employees, and any person in active concert or participation with them (“Apple”), are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.
Apple changed its rules to allow those links, but imposed a commission of up to 27% on purchases made through them. When Epic challenged the company’s compliance plan, the court agreed with the Fortnite maker and held Apple in contempt for violating the injunction.
Today’s brief
In today’s brief, Apple notes that when it “filed its notice of compliance on January 16, 2024, the district court did not raise any immediate concern.”
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