Epic Games has filed a court motion asking U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to force Apple to approve its submission of Fortnite to the US App Store.
The Epic filing claims Apple is in contempt of Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ April order that prevented Apple from rejecting an app over its use of outside payment links. Epic argues that Apple’s refusal to review its Fortnite submission until after a pending Ninth Circuit ruling amounts to retaliation for its legal challenges.
In a letter from Apple and shared by Epic, Apple stated it “won’t take action on the Fortnite app submission until after the Ninth Circuit rules on our pending request for a partial stay of the new injunction.” Epic claims the delay is in violation of Apple’s previous assurances that it would approve Fortnite if the app complied with Apple’s guidelines.
Epic also claims its game disappeared from the EU App Store on Friday because of Apple’s decision to block its US submission. Apple countered by asking Epic to resubmit the app without including the US storefront “so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.”
The Fortnite publisher is seeking enforcement of the court’s original injunction, as well as a contempt ruling against Apple. The company also wants to see the Judge require that Apple “accept any compliant Epic app, including Fortnite, for distribution on the U.S. storefront of the App Store.”
Judge Gonzalez Rogers could find Apple in contempt again, as she did in her April 30 ruling. Stay tuned!
