Epic Games Expands Fortnite Legal Dispute With Apple to the UK
Epic Games has submitted a complaint to the United Kingdom’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, expanding its Fortnite legal battle with both Apple and Google to another country.
According to Bloomberg, Epic Games is claiming that Apple’s decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store was unlawful, and the company is aiming to get Apple to allow Fortnite back into the British App Store.
Similar arguments from Epic Games have not worked in the U.S., where Fortnite and Apple have been embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal fight since August. In the U.S., Epic Games asked for a preliminary injunction to keep Fortnite on the App Store, but was denied because its removal was caused by Epic Games and could have been reversed if Epic Games followed the App Store rules.
Epic Games in August added a Fortnite update that allowed customers to purchase in-game currency directly from Epic, skirting Apple’s in-app purchases. That is against Apple’s rules, and the move led Apple to pull the app from the App Store.
After that, Epic Games filed a planned lawsuit against Apple, and Apple ultimately terminated Epic Games’ developer account. Fortnite has not been available on iOS devices since August, and as Epic refuses to comply with the App Store rules, there is no path for it to return to the App Store.
Apple and Epic will face off in court in July 2021, and at the current time, both sides are preparing for the upcoming legal fight.
