First leg of Epic vs Apple ends in a score draw

A judge has ruled that it’s OK for Apple to remove Fortnite from its App Store, but not for it to restrict use of Erpic’s Unreal Engine developer tool.

The district court of Northern California has ruled on Epic’s request for a restraining order against Apple, to prevent it cutting off all access to the App Store. As the Verge reports, the court ruled in Epic’s favour regarding the suspension of all of its developer accounts, but concluded that Apple was still entitled to kick Fortnite off for breaking the rules.

“The Court finds that with respect to Epic Games’ motion as to its games, including Fortnite, Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm,” wrote the judgment. “The current predicament appears of its own making.” It went on to say that Epic could always maintain the status quo while building its case against Apple but has strategically chosen not to and is thus not deserving of any sympathy in that respect.

“By contrast Epic Games has made a preliminary showing of irreparable harm as to Apple’s actions related to the revocation of the developer tools (SDKs),” the judgment continues, before concluding “Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders.”

Well said Judge. This seems to be the point Microsoft was making and it doesn’t reflect well on Apple that it’s so quick to inflict collateral damage in its defence of its commercial interests. Epic clearly sought to provoke Apple into an over-reaction by going against the terms of their App Store agreement and this judgment indicates it succeeded.