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Epic sued Apple in 2020 claiming that the iPhone maker violated
antitrust laws with its App Store rules, which require
developers to pay commissions to Apple of up to 30% of in-app
purchases. Apple emerged mostly victorious, allowing its
commissions to stand. At the time of the trial, antitrust
experts had said that loss for Epic could close off legal
avenues for the Justice Department, which has been probing Apple
since 2019, to bring an antitrust complaint.
Epic appealed its loss, with oral arguments set for Oct. 21 at
the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where both Apple and
Epic will have 20 minutes each to make their respective cases.
In January, the Justice Department entered the case by filing a
brief. Antitrust officials said they did not support either side
in the disputes at hand but were concerned that the lower
court's ruling had improperly interpreted the Sherman Act, the
country's primary antitrust law. On Friday, U.S. officials asked
for 10 minutes of argument time.
"The United States believes that its participation at oral
argument would be helpful to the court, especially in explaining
how the errors (in antitrust law interpretation) could
significantly harm antitrust enforcement beyond the specific
context of this case," the Justice Department wrote in the
filing.
Neither Epic nor Apple opposed the move, though Apple wants the
regulators' argument time to come out of Epic's time or to be
granted additional time.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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