US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Apple vs. Epic Games Case

The United States Supreme Court today declined to hear separate requests from both Apple and Epic Games in their long-standing lawsuit against each other with regards to App Store rules.

app store blue banner epic 1
Apple made the request in September 2023, asking the Supreme Court to hear its appeal about the portion of its legal dispute that was ruled in Epic's favor. This was Apple's so-called "anti-steering" rule that bars developers of many iOS apps from directing users to methods of purchase available outside of the ‌App Store‌, circumventing Apple's revenue cut.

The Supreme Court also declined to hear a request from Epic Games to make a ruling on the case. The Supreme Court was the last stop for ‌Epic Games‌ after it lost an appeal earlier this year. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2023 sided with the lower court and ruled that Apple's ‌App Store‌ rules do not violate antitrust law by not allowing for third-party marketplaces.

The dispute between Apple and Epic dates back to 2020 with Epic seeking to overturn Apple's ‌App Store‌ rules requiring content purchases within iOS apps to go through Apple, which takes a 15% to 30% cut of the revenue.

In multiple rounds of the dispute, Apple has won on every count with the exception of just one regarding Apple's "anti-steering" rule. In July 2023, a judge ruled that Apple did not have to make changes to its policies.

As a result of the Supreme Court's decision today, the previous rulings stand and Apple is able to continue to disallow third-party payment processing within apps, but will have to allow developers to inform users about other purchasing options outside of the ‌App Store‌.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

spazzcat Avatar
15 weeks ago

I think this was the right decision but I would've liked the SCOTUS to rule on it so the case can be settled.
It is settled now.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
icanhazmac Avatar
15 weeks ago

As a result of the Supreme Court's decision today, the previous rulings stand and Apple is able to continue to disallow third-party payment processing within apps
Great news! While anyone can get hacked I trust the Apple payment processor far more than some no-name discount outfit an indy dev might use to save $$. Epic, most likely, wouldn't cheap out but others will.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bayportbob Avatar
15 weeks ago
until something really happens that would change my mind on this topic, I believe the Supreme Court made the correct determination on this matter...
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spazzcat Avatar
15 weeks ago

so this is finally over?

like, finally?

glad to see it. Epic chose a battle stupid enough to live up to the company name, lost, tried every single legal avenue available to reverse that, and still lost. been quite the 4-year trip.
And they lost millions in App Store revenue. Their CEO should be fired.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spazzcat Avatar
15 weeks ago

The Supreme Court gets far more appeals than they can handle. Denials to hear are because they agree with the lower court's ruling, lack of time, or both. I don't know what the deal is with either of these appeals. Although these appeals are settled, case law isn't settled until the Supreme Court rules.
Declining to hear is a ruling, they are ruling the lower court is correct.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
phenste Avatar
15 weeks ago
so this is finally over?

like, finally?

glad to see it. Epic chose a battle stupid enough to live up to the company name, lost, tried every single legal avenue available to reverse that, and still lost. been quite the 4-year trip.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...