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A federal judge in California ruled in an injunction Friday that Apple could ban Epic Games’ Fortnite game from its App Store, but it must not harm Epic’s development tools business, which includes Unreal Engine software used by hundreds of other video games.
“The Court upholds its findings of the temporary restraining order and hereby grants and denies in part Epic Games’ motion for a preliminary injunction,” ruled District Judge Yvonne González Rogers.
Epic Games and Apple were not immediately available to comment on the ruling.
Last month, Epic Games had filed for a preliminary injunction that would put its game back on the App Store and reinstate its developer account after the iPhone maker terminated Epic Games’ account from its App Store.
Epic sued Apple in August, claiming that the company’s 30 percent commission on some in-app purchases made through its App Store, combined with Apple’s controls over the apps users can download on their iPhones. , constituted anti-competitive behavior. The lawsuit came after Epic launched its own payment system in the popular video game Fortnite.
Apple does not allow such alternative payment systems and removed Fortnite from the App Store and threatened to cancel Epic’s developer accounts, which would have affected Epic’s other business of selling software used to create games.
Epic moved to prevent Apple from taking both measures. The judge previously issued an emergency order that allowed Apple to remove Epic’s titles from the App Store, but prohibited the iPhone maker from taking any action that could damage Epic’s developer tools.
“Epic Games makes a strong case for Apple’s exclusive distribution through the iOS App Store and the in-app purchase (” IAP “) system through which Apple takes 30 percent of certain IAP payments” the judge said in Friday’s ruling.
However, he added that Epic Games has not sufficiently addressed the arguments against Apple. “The actions, dealt with in the temporary restraining order, remain the same.”
