Apple will have to respond to judge for refusing to reinstate fortnite If the standoff with Epic Games is not resolved by May 27, it will be moved to its US App Store.
Epic’s CEO announced three weeks ago that the company’s flagship game would be resubmitted to the App Store after the two companies were locked in court for nearly five years. But Apple has not cooperated in its appeal of the court’s latest ruling.
“Apple is fully capable of resolving this matter without further briefing or hearing,” U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, wrote in an order on Monday, adding that Apple officials would be required to appear in court if her intervention was required.
The two companies have been feuding since 2020 over the fees the App Store charges developers and other policies in Apple’s software marketplace, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Apple removed it from its store fortnite Apps cut off access to more than 1 billion iPhone and iPad users.
Epic declined to comment, and an Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Gonzalez-Rogers didn’t explicitly say the application needed to be reinstated, there likely wasn’t any alternative that would satisfy the judge. She gave Apple until Wednesday to determine which executives would be “fully prepared to answer any questions on the topic.” The App Store is run by executive Phil Schiller, but the team also includes a business team run by Carson Oliver and an app review team run by Trystan Kosmynka.
In a major setback for Apple, Gonzalez Rogers ruled on April 30 that the iPhone maker violated a 2021 order by not opening its App Store to third-party payment options and said it must stop charging commissions on off-market purchases.
Apple is asking an appeals court to put the ruling on hold while it challenges the ruling.
Separately, Epic on Friday accused Apple of removing fortnite Third-party markets from the EU. Apple has denied the claims.
Gonzalez Rogers said in her April 30 ruling that an Apple executive lied under oath, and she referred the case to federal prosecutors to investigate whether Apple was guilty of contempt for flouting her 2021 ruling.
The case is Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc., case number: 20-cv-05640, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Oakland).
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
