Apple faced a significant setback in its lawsuit against Epic Games. Today, the Ninth Circuit rejected both of its reconsideration requests. Here are the details.

Brief Context

Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple in August 2020 with 10 claims, as it was removed from the App Store.

Apple took action after Epic modified Fortnite's in-app purchase system to bypass App Store rules; this move was later confirmed to be intentional.

After a lengthy legal battle, it was determined that Apple violated California's Unfair Competition Law by restricting developers' ability to direct users to alternative payment methods.

This was Epic's only victory; the court dismissed the other nine claims.

However, it was a significant victory, especially last year when Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in violation of its original ruling from 2021 and decided that the company must allow developers to direct users to alternative payment methods.

Apple argued that this ruling incorrectly expanded the original judgment (which only applied to Epic) and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The appellate court heard Apple's case with a three-judge panel and largely upheld the lower court's decision.

This situation led Apple to make two requests: one for reconsideration before the same three judges who heard the case, and the other for en banc reconsideration; in this case, the entire Ninth Circuit would review the decision.

Apple's main argument was that the ruling created confusion about how much it could charge for purchases outside the App Store.

In short, Apple pointed out two possible interpretations: one limited to the costs of supporting only external purchases, while the other allowed for a broader commission based on the value of the App Store and its ecosystem.

Today, we reached this point.

The Court Rejected Both Requests

Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously rejected Apple's request for reconsideration by the three-judge panel. This means all three judges rejected Apple's request.

As for the en banc reconsideration request, Judge M. Smith voted to reject the request, while Judge S.R. Thomas and Judge McShane suggested it be accepted. However, as stated in the document:

The entire court has been informed of the en banc reconsideration request, and no judge of the court has requested a vote on this matter. […] The panel reconsideration request and the en banc reconsideration request
HAVE BEEN DENIED.

With this decision now on record, Apple has very limited options, including the attempt to take the case to the Supreme Court once again.

Initially, both Apple and Epic requested the Supreme Court to review a previous Ninth Circuit decision, but the justices did not want to take the case.

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