Apple Says Epic Games Lost Trial Due To Failure In Proving Wrongdoing

Apple Inc. AAPL said Thursday that Epic Games Inc. lost its antitrust lawsuit trial against the tech giant last year due to the “Fortnite” videogame maker’s failure to prove wrongdoing.

What Happened: Apple said Thursday in a new brief filed with an appeals court that Epic Games did not lose the trial due to legal errors on the judge’s part.

The iPhone maker urged the court to uphold Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling in September, which did not find the Tim Cook-led company as an antitrust monopolist and was largely ruled in its favor.

However, the judge had ruled that Apple's “anti-steering” provisions were illegal.

Both Apple and Epic Games have appealed the court ruling. Apple successfully won a stay on the "anti-steering" injunction in December.

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Why It Matters: Epic filed the lawsuit against Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google in 2020 after the “Fortnite” game was removed from the App Store. Epic had alleged anti-competitive practices by the two technology companies.

Apple and Google have been facing several allegations surrounding their app store policies, including fees for digital purchases. Apple has resisted allowing third-party payment tools for in-app purchases.

Price Action: Apple shares closed 2.3% higher in Thursday’s regular trading session at $174.07, but lost 0.1% in the after-hours session to $173.83, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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