Apple and Epic are headed to the Supreme Court

pcgamer.com:

The long-running legal beef between Apple and Epic Games is headed to the Supreme Court of the United States. Apple has filed a notice requesting a stay of a lower court injunction against it while it prepares to appeal a 2021 ruling on «anti-steering» practices that ordered the company to allow developers on the App Store to use non-Apple payment options.

The case began way back in August 2020, when Epic theatrically sued Apple over «monopolistic practices» on the App Store. A month later, Apple pushed back, and for the most part it came out on top when the initial ruling was handed down a year later. But Epic landed one good shot when the court declared that Apple's policy of requiring developers to use its in-app payment system was a violation of California's Unfair Competition Law.

The ruling effectively meant that Apple would have to change its policies to allow developers to use whatever payment processor they wanted—so, for instance, Epic would be allowed to offer Fortnite Vbucks for sale directly to gamers on iOS devices, rather than selling them through Apple's system, which takes a 30% cut. Epic and Apple both quickly appealed, and the ruling was put on hold until the appeals process could be completed.

In April, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the 2021 ruling, and after petitions from both companies to reconsider that ruling were rejected, Apple filed notice (via GamesIndustry) that it's taking the case all the way to the top—that is, the Supreme Court of the United States.

Apple said in its most recent filing that the imposition of a sweeping, across-the-board injunction was an inappropriate remedy to a lawsuit filed by a single plaintiff, rather than a class action: «The [appeals] panel never