The Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal for Epic v. Apple, meaning that the latter's anti-steering provision on its app store are unenforceable.
So developers can now offer payment systems outside of Apple's walled garden, which, hopefully, will in the longer term disincentivize Apple and toll collectors in the app store system to be a bit less larcenous:
The Supreme Court declined to hear either of the petitions resulting from the multi-year, multi-court Epic v. Apple antitrust dispute. That leaves most of Epic's complaints about Apple's practices unanswered, but the gaming company achieved one victory on pricing notices.
………
The matter reached trial in May 2021. The precise definitions of "games" and "marketplace" were fervently debated. Epic scored a seemingly huge victory in September 2021 when a Northern California judge demanded that Apple allow developers to offer their own payment buttons and communicate with app customers about alternate payment options. An appeals court upheld that Apple's App Store itself wasn't a "walled garden" that violated antitrust laws but kept the ruling that Apple had to open up its payments and messaging.
Today's denial of petitions for certiorari means that Apple has mostly run out of legal options to prevent changes to its App Store policies now that multiple courts have found its "anti-steering" language anticompetitive. Links and messaging from developers should soon be able to send users to alternative payment options for apps rather than forcing them to stay entirely inside Apple's App Store, resulting in a notable commission for Apple.
The role that naked rent-seeking currently plays in our economy is the source of much of the inequality in our society.
It is excessive and wrong.
0 comments :
Post a Comment