In Apple versus Epic Games, courtroom battle is only half the fight
By Stephen Nellis
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Epic Games faces an uphill legal battle
against Apple Inc
in an antitrust trial starting Monday, and a defeat for the maker of
"Fortnite" could make it harder for U.S. government regulators to
pursue a similar case against the iPhone maker, legal experts said.
But win or lose at the trial, Epic, which has pursued an aggressive
public relations campaign against Apple alongside its
court pleadings, may have already accomplished a major goal: Drawing Apple squarely into
the global debate over whether and how massive technology companies should be
regulated.
Apple has mostly succeeded in staying out of the regulatory
crosshairs by arguing that the iPhone is a niche product in a smartphone world
dominated by Google's Android operating system. But that argument has become
harder to sustain with the number of iPhone users now exceeding 1 billion.
Epic alleges Apple has such a strong lock on those customers that
the app store constitutes a distinct market for software developers over which
Apple has monopoly power. Apple is abusing that power, Epic argues, by forcing
developers to use Apple's in-app payment systems - which charge commissions of
up to 30% - and to submit to app-review guidelines the gaming company says
discriminate against products that compete with Apple's own.
"It's not a super-strong suit - I don't think they are likely
to win," said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt Law
School. "But it has already achieved a lot of its purpose, which is
drawing attention to some of Apple's practices that many developers see as
abusive."
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