An appeals court has upheld the status quo in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple, affirming a decision that was largely a victory for Apple. In a ruling delivered on Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Apple’s closed app store and security restrictions didn’t violate antitrust law, but that Apple couldn’t maintain anti-steering rules that prevent users from learning about alternate payment options.
The legal saga all started in 2020 when Apple kicked Fortnite off of the App Store after the app began letting users make in-app purchases using Epic’s own payment processor. This allowed Epic to avoid the up to 30 percent commission that comes with using Apple’s own in-app payment system. Epic Games sued Apple shortly...