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The US Court of Appeals will now hear from Apple and Epic Games, both of which are appealing against aspects of the antitrust rulings from their previous App Store lawsuit.
Specifically, Apple opposes the “anti-steering” aspects of the decision. Apple says that Epic didn’t produce enough evidence to prove the ruling, and as such, that aspect should be tossed.
For its part, Epic maintains that the overall ruling was flawed.
Epic’s appeal filing claims that “Apple unlawfully maintains its monopolies in the iOS app distribution and in-app payment solutions markets by expressly excluding all competitors.” However, during the trial, Judge Roberts didn’t define the market the same way that Epic does here or the wider definition that Apple wants. It isn’t clear why Epic is leaning on their definition in the appeal filing, given the ruling and prior precedent in similar matters.
Now according to FOSS Patents, the appeals hearing will be held on Friday, October 21, 2022. It will be heard in Courtroom 3 of the James R. Browning US Courthouse in San Francisco.
No scheduled time has been announced, but the court’s docket has Epic Games versus Apple as its fifth case of the day. The format for the appeals court sees each side being given 20 minutes to make their case.
According to FOSS Patents, it’s possible that other interested parties may ask to participate in this oral presentation. That could include some representation from the DOJ and 34 states that have told the appeals court that Apple continues to “stifle competition.”
