The ACCC has been granted leave by the Federal Court to intervene in the Epic Games v Apple proceedings, in relation to the relief to be ordered by the Court.
Australia delivered a rare when for the video games developer behind Fortnite and Infinity Blade, in its global fight with Apple’s App Store over its slice of revenue, with Apple charging commissions of up to 30%.
Last year, following a 16-week trial in 2024, Federal Court justice Jonathan Beach ruled that Apple had misused its market power in breach of Australia’s competition laws, by restricting the use of alternative app distribution and in-app payment methods on Apple devices.
The ACCC then sought leave to intervene in the proceedings to make written submissions on the relief issues (ie redress or compensation) relating to the public interest. Google was also part of the action.
In March this year, the Court ordered by consent that Epic’s proceeding against Google be dismissed after Epic and Google reached a global settlement agreement. The relief hearing against Apple continues next week.
The competition watchdog has been has followed proceedings since they began in November 2020 and has had some limited, prior involvement, seeking, successfully, to be ‘a friend of the court’ in legal action between Fortnite maker Epic Games in its fight against Apple’s App Store. Former commissioner Rod Sims was rallying global regulators to intervene after the matter got underway.
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ACCC commissioner Luke Woodward said they plan to make submissions that recognise the public interest in the promotion of competitive digital services markets and the broad public interest nature of the remedial orders that the Court may make.
“This is a significant competition law matter, and the orders made in these proceedings could have wide-ranging implications for the distribution of mobile apps and in-app payments in Australia,” he said.
