An Australian federal judge rules Apple and Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct by misusing their app store market power, but rejects Epic's other claims
By national consumer affairs reporter Michael Atkin and the Specialist Reporting Team's Melanie Vujkovic
Context & Ripple Effects
Epic's Australian challenge cleared an early procedural hurdle in 2021, when the Federal Court allowed the case to proceed, and was later scheduled alongside the Google case after a pause. The outcome therefore resolves a long-running test of how app-store control is treated under Australian competition law.
The ruling also arrives as Epic has said it intends to return Fortnite to iOS in Australia, although its proposed return has no set date. That makes the decision consequential not only for the litigants but for developers seeking alternatives to incumbent app-store terms.
First-order effects
- Apple and Google now face an Australian judicial finding that they misused app-store market power, while Epic's unsuccessful claims narrow the parts of its case that prevailed.
- Epic gains support for its challenge to app-store controls and has tied that result to a planned Fortnite return to iOS in Australia, subject to timing it has not specified.
Second-order effects
- Developers and commercial partners have a stronger local reference point when contesting app-store restrictions, increasing pressure on Apple and Google to defend how their store rules are applied.
- Because the case addressed both major mobile-store operators together, any response to the finding could affect competitive terms across iOS and Android rather than shifting developers from one store to the other.
Third-order effects
- If this reasoning is sustained or repeated, app-store governance may be treated less as a product-design choice and more as an exercise of platform control over developers' routes to users and payment options.
- The case adds to the likelihood that competition disputes over digital distribution focus on the conduct of gatekeepers, though the practical scope will depend on subsequent legal and remedial steps not described here.
The trend: This is one data point in the broader shift toward treating dominant app stores as platform gatekeepers whose rules can face competition-law scrutiny.