In an ongoing battle between Apple and game developer Epic Games, the iPhone maker has received a favorable verdict on an injunction against its action to ban Fortnite from the iOS App Store.
The judge ruled that Apple can continue to ban Fortnite for the violation of its terms and conditions related to the App Store but it should not in any way harm or block any of Epic’s developer tools business including games that use its Unreal Engine platform.
Game developer Epic had filed an injunction against Apple for dropping Fortnite and the removing Epic’s developer account from the Apple’s app store after the Fortnite developer used in-game payment methods to bypass Apple’s payment mechanism which mandates a 30 percent commission to the iOS owner.
Epic Games has long defended its actions and has protested against Apple and Google for their control over what apps users can download to phones with their operating systems categorizing the action as a anticompetitive behaviour.
The ruling stated that “Epic Games has strong arguments regarding Apple’s exclusive distribution through the iOS App Store and the in-app purchase (“IAP”) system through which Apple takes 30% of certain IAP payments.”
But the court could not support Epic’s request for restoring its renowned game Fortnite on the App Store as the game developer was not able to present sufficient justification to Apple’s counter-arguments.
The court ruled that “The equities, addressed in the temporary restraining order, remain the same.”
