There is a new step in the ongoing battle between Fourteen days Developers Epic and Apple, with Epic asking the California court overseeing its case to step in to force Apple to restore its apps to the App Store on Saturday.
epos said it was asked Fourteen days Get restored on the App Store and "stop Apple's retaliation against Epic for daring to question its illegal restrictions". The company also said it was a "necessary step to free consumers and developers from Apple's costly, anti-competitive control."
Today we asked the court to stop Apple's retaliation against Epic for daring to challenge its illegal restrictions while our antitrust proceedings continue. This is a necessary step in freeing consumers and developers from Apple's costly, anti-competitive control. https://t.co/r2XxhitjMp
& mdash; Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) 5th September 2020
You can read the full court document here as a PDF. It is asking the court to prevent Apple from removing, struck off or denying the list Fourteen days and Epic's other in-app purchase apps from the App Store. The court is also called upon to prevent Apple from retaliatory action against Epic, such as suspending or terminating the Apple Developer Program account. Finally, it is asking the court to prevent Apple from removing or changing the version of Fourteen days This is already present on iOS users' devices and will prompt Apple to restore Epic's developer account.
Among the legal arguments, the court document also argues that allowing the apps to enter the App Store does little to no harm to Apple, while banning Fortnite and other Epic apps from the App Store does significant damage to Epic.
The documents also contain emails between Epic and Apple discussing the in-app payments issue. Apple said it would be restored, according to an email dated Aug. 26 Fourteen days In time for the release of Chapter 2, Season 4, in the App Store and not cancel the Epic developer account, if Epic removed the Epic direct payment feature from the app. Epic's decision to give users the option to pay through either the App Store or Epic Direct Payment - which was advertised as cheaper - is against Apple rules.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney argued in an email on June 30 that allowing users to pay using either method would mean lower prices for digital goods for customers, which would mean more income for developers. In a later July 17 email, Sweeney called the situation "a sad state of affairs" when Apple responded through its legal team, arguing that preventing the use of third party payments would protect the consumer.
Additional evidence submitted by Epic includes comments and emails from users who were upset about this Fourteen days was removed from the App Store, some of whom were demanding refunds for their digital payments. In the filing, Epic states that "the screams from users were deafening" and that daily active users on iOS have decreased by 60% since the app was removed from the App Store, arguing that doing irreparable harm to Epic as a company has inflicted.
The next step is a court hearing, due later this month.
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