Apple’s two theft claims against Epic Games were on Tuesday dismissed by a federal judge in California.
Epic filed the counterclaims filed in September, just weeks after the game-maker sued Apple for alleged anti-competitive actions. Cupertino removed Fortnite, the hugely popular battle royale game, from the App Store after Epic gave players on iOS devices the ability to purchase in-game currency outside of Apple’s ecosystem.
Apple’s two claims sought to secure lost App Store fees and other damages incurred after Epic’s actions. Epic quickly responded by filing a motion for dismissal. And on Tuesday, November 10, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sided with the game developer.
Epic wins dismissal of Apple claims
“This is a high-stakes breach-of-contract case and an antitrust case and that’s all in my view,” Gonzalez told Apple lawyer Anna Casey, Bloomberg reports. “You can’t just say it’s independently wrongful.”
“You actually have to have facts,” Gonzalez added, before stating that the rest of the breach-of-contract case would move forward. Apple said it disagreed with the judgement and doubled down on its claims that Epic clearly breached its contract with Cupertino.
“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines that apply equally to every developer who sells digital goods and services,” Apple told Bloomberg.
“Their reckless behavior made pawns of customers, and we look forward to making it right for them in court next May.”
No Fortnite on iOS for now
While the legal battle between Apple and Epic rages on, Fortnite fans on iPhone and iPad remain unable to download the game from the App Store. All other Epic titles have also been booted from iOS.
It’s still unclear how this fight might play out, but Epic will almost certainly be keen to bring Fortnite back to the App Store one day — even if it has to accept Apple’s fees eventually.
