Epic Games will not be able to expand its ongoing Fortnite fight with Apple in the UK after a judge said the case could not continue in London, reports Bloomberg.
In January, Epic Games submitted a complaint to the United Kingdom's Competition Appeal Tribunal in an effort to get the Fortnite app back on the App Store in the UK. Epic Games argued that Apple's decision to remove Fortnite was unlawful, and tried to convince the Appeal Tribunal that it was acting on behalf of consumers and developers in the UK impacted by "Apple and Google's misuse of market power."
The judge ruled that Epic Games' case against Apple Inc. was better decided in the United States, but Epic Games is allowed to sue Apple (UK) Limited, a European arm of the company, and Google.
Epic Games in a statement said that it will reconsider pursuing a case against Apple in the UK after the U.S. case is finished.
"We are pleased that the Court has granted Epic permission to pursue our case against Google in the U.K. Epic will reconsider pursuing its case against Apple in the U.K. after the resolution of the U.S. case. We note the Competition Appeal Tribunal's assessment that Apple and Google's anticompetitive app store policies are 'serious issues to be tried' under UK Competition law, and that it is 'well arguable' that their conduct has 'an immediate and substantial effect in the UK'. We are unwavering in our commitment to stopping Apple and Google's anti-competitive practices and will continue to fight for fairer app distribution globally."
Apple and Epic Games will continue their legal fight in the United States, with the two companies set to face off in court in July 2021.
