Apple files Arguments with Appeals Court in Battle With Epic Games

Apple Inc. said a judge's ruling that it violated California's unfair competition law should be overturned because it found the iPhone maker's in-app payment system to be competitive.

Apple's Thursday filing with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes weeks after Epic laid out its own reasons for its appeal in a lawsuit largely in favour of Apple. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers previously ruled against nine of Epic's 10 claims. A hearing in the appeals court is expected later this year, with a decision unlikely for several months later.

Apple expects a decision in the summer of 2023. Meanwhile, it has already won a reprieve from the appeals court in rolling out changes to the App Store ordered by Judge Gonzalez Rogers. 

Except for the aspect of the ruling that goes against the iPhone maker, Apple wants the September ruling to be upheld. "Epic did not lose due to legal error," Apple said in its more than 120-page lawsuit. "Epic lost because it 'overreached' by asserting claims of 'antitrust law boundaries,' it wrote, citing the judge's ruling in September.