Epic can’t widen its legal battle with Apple in the UK

Epic Games has been stopped from widening its legal battle with Apple over access to its Fortnite game after a U.K. judge said the case couldn’t continue in London, reports Bloomberg.

Epic had submitted a complaint to the U.K.’s antitrust tribunal at the end of last year, saying Apple’s decision to remove the game from the iPhone maker’s App Store was unlawful. The judge ruled Monday that while the U.S. was a better forum for the Apple dispute, a similar U.K. suit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google could move forward, notes Bloomberg

This is all part of an ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic that has seen lawsuits — and counter lawsuits — filed in the U.S. UK, and Australia. On Aug. 13,2020, Epic Games announced that it had introduced a new direct payment option in the Fortnite app for iPhone and iPad, allowing players to purchase 1000 V-Bucks for US$7.99 rather than $9.99 through Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism. Shortly thereafter, Apple removed the gamer from the App Store for violating store polices and followed up by shutting down the company’s developer account.  Epic immediately filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

In September 2020 Apple filed a countersuit to stop the game maker from using its own payment system for Fortnite. Apple also accused Epic of theft and sought extra monetary damages beyond breach of contract.