MELBOURNE, Australia — Epic Games, the company behind the popular online game Fortnite, won a partial victory in an Australian court in U.S. billionaire chief executive Tim Sweeney’s claim that Google and Apple engaged in anti-competitive conduct in running their app stores.
Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach on Tuesday upheld key parts of Epic’s claim that the tech giants breached Australian competition laws by misusing their market power against app developers and using restrictive trade practices.
Google and Apple ’s dominance of the app market had the effect of substantially lessening competition and breached Australian law, Beach found.
But the judge rejected some of Epic’s claim including that Google and Apple engaged in unconscionable conduct as defined by Australian law.
Sweeney is also challenging Google and Apple dominance in the app markets through the courts in the United States and Britain.
The litigation began in August 2020 when Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store expelled Fortnite because Epic installed a direct payment feature in the extraordinarily popular game.
The court ruled both companies pressured app developers including Epic through contracts and technology to sell their products through the two dominant app stores.
Epic posted online that the judgment was: “Another HUGE WIN for Epic Games!”
Apple said the company “faces fierce competition in every market where we operate.”
“We welcome the Australian court’s rejection of some of Epic’s claims, however, we strongly disagree with the Court’s ruling on others,” Apple said in a statement.
Google said it would review the judgment. Google and Apple could potentially appeal the ruling before the Federal Court full bench.
“We disagree with the court’s characterisation of our billing policies and practices, as well as its findings regarding some of our historical partnerships, which were all shaped in a fiercely competitive mobile landscape on behalf of users and developers,” a Google statement said.
Beach has yet to release a 952-page judgment on Epic’s case against Apple or his 914-page judgment on the case against Google.
The judge gave an oral summary of his findings during a 90-minute hearing Tuesday.
Lawyers will return to court on a date yet to be set to argue what Epic is entitled to in terms of damages.
