Epic Expands Its Apple And Google Lawsuits To UK

Epic has expanded its Fortnite legal battle with Apple and Google to the United Kingdom, now asking an antitrust tribunal to rule against the hardware and software giant as well.

Bloomberg reports that in its latest filing, Epic said that Apple has abused its "dominant position" and that its removal of Fortnite from the App Store was unlawful. The complaint was similar to another one filed the same day against Google. The Fortnite developer raised its legal challenge to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, a public body that oversees antitrust law.

Though the legal challenges have been ongoing in the States, this is the first time Epic has made a move to bring Fortnite back to the British App Store.

The court battle began when Epic issued an update to Fortnite offering in-app purchases that circumvented Apple and Google's guidelines to give them a percentage of profits generated from IAPs. Apple and Google subsequently pulled Fortnite from their stores.

Epic has argued that Apple and Google are monopolies in the mobile space, operating closed app ecosystems and requiring developers to pay a share. It has also argued that the policy is arbitrary, as some services like Netflix are allowed to offer subscriptions that never go through Apple, even though the app is available on Apple devices. There's some indication in the legal filings that Epic would like to open its own competing app marketplace.

Though Epic has filed legal challenges against Google as well, most of its public-facing statements have been aimed squarely at Apple--from a parody 1984 video it had ready to go when Apple took action to offering a not-too-subtle jab at Apple CEO Tim Cook. The hearings are scheduled to begin in July.