Apple asks US Supreme Court to overturn anti-steering ruling in Epic case

As part of its ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, Apple has submitted a filing requesting the Supreme Court overthrows a 2021 ruling made by the US district court of California, which upheld a complaint against Apple’s anti-steering practices.

Epic launched its lawsuit against Apple in August 2020, following the iPhone maker’s decision to revoke Epic’s Fortnite developer account, preventing the battle royale game from being distributed on its devices. Apple made the move after Epic deliberately circumvented contractually mandated App Store payment mechanisms within its Fortnite iOS app, which would have allowed it to avoid Apple’s 30 percent platform fees.

As that case reached its conclusion, California’s Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers ruled against Epic in all but one of its 10 claims. However, the one ruling made in Epic’s favour – that Apple cannot block developers from linking out to alternative payment methods from within their apps (a practice known as “anti-steering”) – has remained a sticking point for the company.

Earlier this year, both Epic and Apple petitioned the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the initial ruling with little success. Shortly after, both parties moved to appeal that second verdict, but, as of 30th June, this further appeal has been rejected too. And with another failure under its belt, Apple has now (thanks GamesIndustry.biz) opted take its case to the US Supreme Court as it looks to prevent a block on its anti-steering practices.