Epic Games has been at the centre of attention over its anti-competitive and anti-consumer claims against tech giants around the globe. However, following its claim against Apple late last year in the Federal Court of Australia, Epic Games has been dealt an unexpected blow.
Epic Games accused Apple of breaching Australian consumer law due to Apple’s restriction on the mobile device marketplace. Apple effectively enforces a 30 per cent fee on all payments in the App Store, which was causing consumers to pay higher prices for in-game purchases on Epic Games’ Fortnite. As such, Epic Games enabled users to pay directly for in-game purchases which led to Fortnite being removed from the App Store altogether.
Although, in the Federal Court of Australia this week, Apple relied on a jurisdictional defence, arguing that its choice of forum for disputes, as per its contract, was to be in California. Justice Perram acknowledged the seriousness of this issue as a matter of public policy but stayed the proceedings to allow Epic Games to file a case for breach of Australian consumer law in a Californian court or alter its proceedings in Australia. But note that if proceedings are launched in California and the Californian court refuses to hear the case, the matter will resume in Australia.
This may seem to put Epic Games on the backfoot, but Epic Games has shown no indication of slowing down its cause of taking Apple’s anti-competitive and monopolistic reign over the digital app marketplace.
It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds in the near future.