Australian court finds Apple, Google abused app store market power

Epic Games has just secured a win in its crusade against Apple and Google’s app store policies: The Federal Court of Australia on Tuesday ruled that Apple and Google’s engaged in anti-competitive conduct when it came to their respective app stores, ABC News reported.

While Judge Jonathan Beach found that the two tech giants had abused their dominant position in the market for app distribution to limit competition, he rejected Epic’s claims that the companies had engaged in “unconscionable conduct.”

Epic Games has been fighting Apple and Google’s fee structure for in-app purchases in various jurisdictions around the planet. The company scored a major win against Apple this year in the U.S, and as a result, Fortnite returned to Apple’s U.S. App Store after five years.

Tuesday’s ruling could yield a similar result for Epic in Australia: the company’s CEO Tim Sweeny said that the Epic Games Store and Fortnite would return to the Apple App Store in the country soon.

“We welcome the court’s rejection of Epic’s demands that we distribute app stores from within the Google Play store, and Epic’s attacks on other critical security protections that users rely on. However, we disagree with the court’s characterisation of our billing policies and practices, as well as its findings regarding some of our historical partnerships,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Meanwhile, Apple told ABC News that its app store is the safest way for users to get apps, and that it disagreed with the court’s ruling on some of Epic’s claims.