Apple and Epic Games are at each other’s throats again.
As reported by Reuters, both companies have separately filed petitions asking the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its April ruling in their antitrust case. They are each requesting an en banc review, meaning an 11-person judge panel would convene instead of the original three-judge panel. These kinds of requests are rare though, with only 12 out of 646 petitions being granted last year.
“The panel compounded its error by affirming a nationwide UCL (California’s Unfair Competition Law) injunction in a case brought by an individual, non-representative plaintiff that did not even establish injury to itself, let alone the kind of injury justifying classwide relief,” Apple wrote in its petition.
Apple argues that Epic Games did not provide enough evidence of harm caused by its practices, while Epic Games argues that the April ruling in favor of Apple sets an unfair precedent and undermines antitrust laws. In case you were not aware, Apple won its appeal against Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit, despite being found to be in violation of California’s anti-steering law.
“That high bar could perhaps work if the competitive benefits and harms of the walled-garden approach are robustly considered at a final balancing step,” Epic Games wrote in its petition. “But it plainly undermines the antitrust laws to adopt a rule where any practice that saves administrative costs is ultimately greenlighted, no matter how exclusionary it is or how much consumer harm it generates.”
Matthew D’Onofrio, News Editor
Matthew “dinofries” D’Onofrio is a writer, content creator, and — most importantly — a gamer. With such a strong passion for video games and a severe case of FOMO, it’s no surprise he always has his finger on the pulse of the gaming world (And won’t shut up about it). On the rare occasion Matt’s away from a screen, you’ll find him strumming away on his acoustic guitar or taking care of his cat Totoro.
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