Australian court rules partly against Apple, Google in Epic Games lawsuit

Epic Games’ Fortnite
An Australian federal court ruled that the app stores of Apple and Google-owned Android are uncompetitive, local media reported Tuesday, marking a partial win for Fortnite developer Epic Games in its ongoing global legal battle against the tech giants. The court found that the app stores lack protections against anti-competitive behavior, according to the reports.
Byron Kaye for Reuters:
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Epic Games had claimed Apple and Google’s fees for downloads of its games were too high, and that the phone makers made it impossible for users to download its alternative app store.
The Australian judgment, which ran to 2,000 pages, was not released by the court on Tuesday, but media said a judge’s summary included the finding that the smartphone companies had not intentionally breached the law.
In a post on X, Epic said the Australian court “just found that Apple and Google abuse their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition”. “The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia!” the Epic post said. “This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia!”
Apple said in a statement it welcomed the court’s rejection of some of Epic’s claims, but strongly disagreed with its ruling on others.
A Google statement said the company welcomed the court’s rejection of some Epic Games claims but “we disagree with the court’s characterisation of our billing policies and practices, as well as its findings regarding some of our historical partnerships, which were all shaped in a fiercely competitive mobile landscape”.

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MacDailyNews Take: Epic’s worldwide scam of clueless judges continues unabated.
The bottom line is clear: Epic Games wants to enjoy all of the benefits of Apple’s App Store, including access to well over one billion of the world’s most affluent users for free. That is illogical, unfair, and, basically, theft. – MacDailyNews, May 4, 2021

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022

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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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