Epic Games Expands Fortnite Legal Dispute With Apple to the UK

Epic Games has submitted a complaint to the United Kingdom’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, expanding its Fortnite legal battle with both Apple and Google to another country.

According to Bloomberg, ‌Epic Games‌ is claiming that Apple’s decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store was unlawful, and the company is aiming to get Apple to allow Fortnite back into the British ‌App Store‌.

In a statement provided to MacRumors, ‌Epic Games‌ said that the filing with the Competition Appeal Tribunal is “an important argument” that it is making on behalf of consumers and developers in the UK.

‌Epic Games‌ has launched legal proceedings against Apple and Google in the United Kingdom, expanding its fight to advance fair digital platform practices for consumers and developers.

The legal proceedings, filed in London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, allege the conduct of both Apple and Google in their respective app stores is an abuse of a dominant position and in breach of the UK’s competition laws, substantially reducing competition in app distribution and payment processes.

We believe that this is an important argument to make on behalf of consumers and developers in the UK and around the world who are impacted by Apple and Google’s misuse of market power. We look forward to making our case on January 21.

Epic is not seeking damages from Apple or Google in the UK, Australia or the US, it is simply seeking fair access and competition that will benefit all consumers.

Similar arguments from ‌Epic Games‌ have not worked in the U.S., where Fortnite and Apple have been embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal fight since August. In the U.S., ‌Epic Games‌ asked for a preliminary injunction to keep Fortnite on the ‌App Store‌, but was denied because its removal was caused by ‌Epic Games‌ and could have been reversed if ‌Epic Games‌ followed the ‌App Store‌ rules.

‌Epic Games‌ in August added a Fortnite update that allowed customers to purchase in-game currency directly from Epic, skirting Apple’s in-app purchases. That is against Apple’s rules, and the move led Apple to pull the app from the App Store.

After that, ‌Epic Games‌ filed a planned lawsuit against Apple, and Apple ultimately terminated ‌Epic Games‌’ developer account. Fortnite has not been available on iOS devices since August, and as Epic refuses to comply with the ‌App Store‌ rules, there is no path for it to return to the ‌App Store‌.

Apple and Epic will face off in court in July 2021, and at the current time, both sides are preparing for the upcoming legal fight.