Supreme Court Declines to Hear Epic v. Apple Appeals, Forcing Apple to Open Up App Store (Updated)

UPDATED: I’ve added to the statement from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, below. –Paul

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear both appeals in Epic v. Apple, so Apple is now forced to open up its App Store ecosystem by allowing developers to communicate cheaper payment options outside their apps.

The Court did not explain its decision.

“The Supreme Court denied both sides’ appeals of the Epic v. Apple antitrust case,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said. “The court battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers. Now the District Court’s injunction against Apple’s anti-steering rule is in effect, and developers can include in their apps ‘buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to IAP’.”

“As of today, developers can begin exercising their court-established right to tell US customers about better prices on the web,” he continued. “These awful Apple-mandated confusion screens are over and done forever.”

As I’m sure you recall, Epic sued Apple for antitrust violations in 2020, arguing that Apple should be forced to allow third-party payment systems in its dominant App Store and let developers communicate with their own customers inside the apps they developed. Epic then won a split ruling in which Apple would be forced to allow developers to communicate with their customers, including to inform them of cheaper payment options.

Both companies appealed this verdict, with Epic again winning the communication argument, though However Apple’s business practices were found to be legal, so it would not be forced to support third-party payment systems inside its App Store. So both companies appealed again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But with that Court declining to even consider the case, the final ruling now stands. And so Apple is legally required to allow developers to communicate with their own customers inside their apps, a change that could cost Apple billions of dollars each year. This change could also help companies like Microsoft that wish to open their app stores within Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store on Android.

Epic fared much better in a nearly identical antitrust case against Google, largely because Google foolishly documented how it had purposefully destroyed evidence related to this case. But Apple is just as horrible, and anyone hoping for further restrictions on its abusive App Store policies can now turn their attention to other cases against the company, both here in the U.S. and abroad. And then there are those new gatekeeper laws in the EU.

“The fight goes on,” Sweeney added. “Regulators are taking action and policymakers around the world are passing new laws to end Apple’s illegal and anticompetitive app store practices. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act goes into effect March 7.”