Apple has filed legal documents opposing Epic\u2019s attempt to have itself reinstated in the iOS App Store, after having been kicked out last week for flouting its rules. Apple characterizes the entire thing as a \u201ccarefully orchestrated, multi-faceted campaign\u201d aimed at circumventing \u2014 perhaps permanently \u2014 the 30% cut it demands for the privilege of doing business on iOS.
\nEpic last week slyly introduced a way to make in-app purchases in its popular game Fortnite without going through Apple. This is plainly against the rules, and Apple soon kicked the game, and the company\u2019s other accounts, off the App Store. Obviously having anticipated this, Epic then published a parody of Apple\u2019s famous 1984 ad, filed a lawsuit and began executing what Apple describes quite accurately as \u201ca carefully orchestrated, multi-faceted campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Epic files motion for injunction against Apple over threat to revoke all developer access<\/p>\n
In fact, as Apple notes in its challenge, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney emailed ahead of time to let Apple know what his company had planned. From Apple\u2019s filing:
\nAround 2am on August 13, Mr. Sweeney of Epic wrote to Apple stating its intent to breach Epic\u2019s agreements:
\n\u201cEpic will no longer adhere to Apple\u2019s payment processing restrictions.\u201d
\nThis was after months of attempts at negotiations in which, according to declarations from Apple\u2019s Phil Schiller, Epic attempted to coax a \u201cside letter\u201d from Apple granting Epic special dispensation. This contradicts claims by Sweeney that Epic never asked for a special deal. From Schiller\u2019s declaration:<\/p>\n
Specifically, on June 30, 2020, Epic\u2019s CEO Tim Sweeney wrote my colleagues and me an email asking for a \u201cside letter\u201d from Apple that would create a special deal for only Epic that would fundamentally change the way in which Epic offers apps on Apple\u2019s iOS platform.
\nIn this email, Mr. Sweeney expressly acknowledged that his proposed changes would be in direct breach of multiple terms of the agreements between Epic and Apple. Mr. Sweeney acknowledged that Epic could not implement its proposal unless the agreements between Epic and Apple were modified.<\/p>\n
One prong of Epic\u2019s assault was a request for courts to grant a \u201ctemporary restraining order,\u201d or TRO, a legal procedure for use in emergencies where a party\u2019s actions are unlawful, a suit to show their illegality is pending and likely to succeed, and those actions should be proactively reversed because they will cause \u201cirreparable harm.\u201d
\nIf Epic\u2019s request were to be successful, Apple would be forced to reinstate Fortnite and allow its in-game store to operate outside of the App Store\u2019s rules. As you might imagine, this would be disastrous for Apple \u2014 not only would its rules have been deliberately ignored, but a court would have placed its imprimatur on the idea that those rules may even be illegal. So it is essential that Apple slap down this particular legal challenge quickly and comprehensively.
\nApple\u2019s filing challenges the TRO request on several grounds. First, it contends that there is no real \u201cemergency\u201d or \u201cirreparable harm\u201d because the entire situation was concocted and voluntarily initiated by Epic:<\/p>\n
Having decided that it would rather enjoy the benefits of the App Store without paying for them, Epic has breached its contracts with Apple, using its own customers and Apple\u2019s users as leverage.
\nBut the \u201cemergency\u201d is entirely of Epic\u2019s own making\u2026it knew full well what would happen and, in so doing, has knowingly and purposefully created the harm to game players and developers it now asks the Court to step in and remedy.<\/p>\n
Epic\u2019s complaint that Apple banned its Unreal Engine accounts as well as Fortnite related ones, Apple notes, is not unusual, considering the accounts share tax IDs, emails and so on. It\u2019s the same \u201cuser,\u201d for their purposes. Apple also says it gave Epic ample warning and opportunity to correct its actions before a ban took place. (Apple, after all, makes a great deal of money from the app as well.)
\nApple also questions the likelihood of Epic\u2019s main lawsuit (independent of the TRO request) succeeding on its merits \u2014 namely that Apple is exercising monopoly power in its rent-collecting on the App Store:<\/p>\n
[Epic\u2019s] logic would make monopolies of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, just to name a few.
\nEpic\u2019s antitrust theories, like its orchestrated campaign, are a transparent veneer for its effort to co-opt for itself the benefits of the App Store without paying or complying with important requirements that are critical to protect user safety, security,
\nand privacy.<\/p>\n
Lastly Apple notes that there is no benefit to the public interest to providing the TRO \u2014 unlike if, for example, Apple\u2019s actions had prevented emergency calls from working or the like, and there was a serious safety concern:
\nAll of that alleged injury for which Epic improperly seeks emergency relief could disappear tomorrow if Epic cured its breach\u2026All of this can happen without any intervention of the Court or expenditure of judicial resources. And Epic would be free to pursue its primary lawsuit.
\nAlthough Apple eschews speculating further in its filings, one source close to the matter suggested that it is of paramount importance to that company to avoid the possibility of Epic or anyone else establishing their own independent app stores on iOS. A legal precedent would go a long way toward clearing the way for such a thing, so this is potentially an existential threat for Apple\u2019s long-toothed but extremely profitable business model.
\nThe conflict with Epic is only the latest in a series going back years in which companies challenged Apple\u2019s right to control and profit from what amounts to a totally separate marketplace.<\/p>\n
Apple goes to war with the gaming industry<\/p>\n
Most recently Microsoft\u2019s xCloud app was denied entry to the App Store because it amounted to a marketplace for games that Apple could not feasibly vet individually. Given this kind of functionality is very much the type of thing consumers want these days, the decision was not popular. Other developers, industries and platforms have challenged Apple on various fronts as well, to the point where the company has promised to create a formal process for challenging its rules.
\nBut of course, even the rule-challenging process is bound by Apple\u2019s rules.
\nYou can read the full Apple filing below:
\nEpic v. Apple 4:20-cv-05640\u2026 by TechCrunch on Scribd<\/p>\n