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Epic Games has started legal proceedings in Australia against the local arm of Apple, continuing its fight with the iPhone maker over its app store practices. Epic said it was extending the battle to make digital platforms fairer for consumers and developers.
The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court of Australia. It claims that Apple’s conduct is unconscionable and violates Australian Consumer Law, as well as various sections of the Competition and Consumers Act 2010.
It alleges that Apple’s conduct in the Apple App Store is a misuse of market power and substantially reduces competition in application distribution and payment processes.
“Apple’s conduct has hindered or prevented, and continues to hinder or prevent Epic and other application developers and in-app content payment providers from effectively competing or competing in the iOS application distribution market and the processing market. of payments in iOS applications “, the claim states.
“Among other things, Apple’s conduct has forced Epic and other app developers to pay Apple’s monopoly prices … in connection with all in-app purchases of their in-app content on iOS devices. This has caused damage, including rising prices for content for iOS device users in Australia and lost profits for Epic. “
In a statement, the Fortnite publisher accused Apple of blocking and paralyzing the ecosystem by “imposing an absolute monopoly on distribution and by imposing restrictions on in-app purchases.”
Epic claims that Apple is preventing entire categories of business applications and software from developing in its ecosystem. He said that such excessive control is bad for competition, choice and innovation.
See also: Cloud gaming, not Fortnite, represents long-term application challenge for Apple
“This is much bigger than Epic versus Apple: it goes to the heart of whether consumers and creators can do business together directly on mobile platforms or if they are forced to use monopoly channels against their wishes and interests,” said the founder and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.
“Apple pioneered the personal computer and its original products were open platforms. Anyone could write code, anyone could release software, and users could install software from sources of their choice.
“Today’s digital platforms must be equally open to fair competition.”
Epic filed suit against Apple in the United States in August, accusing Apple, as well as Google, of being anti-competitive and monopolistic. The allegations came after both tech giants removed Fortnite from their respective app markets after Epic implemented its own in-app purchasing system, which bypassed app store fees.
“Apple has become what it once criticized: the giant that seeks to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation. Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched and more pernicious than the monopolists of yesteryear. With a capitalization With a market share of nearly $ 2 trillion, Apple’s size and reach far exceeds that of any tech monopolist in history, “Epic said in the original teaser.
Apple countered Epic Games in September, accusing the game’s developer of trying to pay nothing for the value it got from being on the App Store. It also alleged that Epic committed commission theft by deliberately implementing its own in-app payment system, leading the game designer to breach its contractual obligations on the App Store.
The iPhone maker also accused Epic of charging others for access to Apple’s intellectual property and technologies through the in-app payment system, as well as for preparing a “smear campaign” against the company.
Apple was seeking damages for any potential injury, goodwill and image of the product, and commission earnings it lost from Epic Games stock. This was until a US court dismissed Apple’s claims last week.
“This is a high-risk breach of contract case and an antitrust case and that’s it in my opinion,” US District Judge Yvonne González Rogers told attorneys.
“You can’t just say it’s illegal independently,” Apple’s attorney Anna Casey told her, referring to Epic’s conduct. “You actually have to have facts.”
Epic said it is not seeking damages from Apple in Australia or the United States, but “simply seeking fair access and competition that will benefit all consumers.”
“Apple excludes all potential competitors from entering the iOS application distribution market and contractually prohibits application developers such as Epic from distributing iOS-compatible applications to the broad user base of iOS devices, including in Australia, except through from the App Store, “Epic states in its claim.
The Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC) announced in September that it would expand its battle of digital platforms to the app stores of major providers such as Apple and Google, and said that at the time it was primarily concerned about its transparency in the use of data, competitiveness and also the type of applications they make available for download.
As part of the investigation, the ACCC said it would examine the experiences of consumers, developers and providers, focusing on the use and sharing of data by applications, the degree of competition between Google and the respective Apple stores, and if more price transparency is required. needed in the local mobile app market.
The ACCC said it would also be looking into the app store fee structure.
