Microsoft, Justice Department, 35 states back Epic Games in court fight with Apple

By Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple is stifling competition with its monopoly on app distribution through the App Store, attorneys general for 35 states told a California appeals court on Thursday.

[The Justice Department and Microsoft also stated support for Epic’s case on Friday.

[Reported Fox News: Consumers and innovation will suffer — indeed, they already have,” Microsoft said, noting that “district court’s reasoning failed to give sufficient weight to these immense competitive risks and, if broadly affirmed, could insulate Apple from meritorious antitrust scrutiny and embolden further harmful conduct.”]

The joint statemet was submitted into the appeals process that is ongoing following the judge’s decision in the Epic v. Apple lawsuit, with the attorneys general siding with the “Fortnite” video game maker on the issue, reports Reuters.

“Apple’s conduct has harmed and is harming mobile app-developers and millions of citizens,” the states said.

“Meanwhile, Apple continues to monopolize app distribution and in-app payment solutions for iPhones, stifle competition, and amass supracompetitive profits within the almost trillion-dollar-a-year smartphone industry.”

According to the Financial Times [paywalled], the US Department of Justice also challenged last year’s ruling, saying in its own submission that the court had “committed several legal errors that could imperil effective antitrust enforcement, especially in the digital economy.”

The DoJ said the court had interpreted the Sherman Act, an 1890 law prohibiting anti-competitive behavior, “narrowly and wrongly, in ways that would leave many anti-competitive agreements and practices outside their protections.”

Read the full story at MacRumors.com:

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/us-states-back-fortnite-maker-epic-v-apple/