RALEIGH – Epic Games scored a “victory” over tech giant Apple in its antitrust lawsuit even though Apple was not declared a monopoly and Epic will have to pay Apple several million dollars in the decision handed down by a federal judge on Friday. So says Raleigh tech attorney Jim Verdonik.
“I understand that Apple stock fell 3% when the news of this ruling first came out,” Verdonik, who has written extensively about the antitrust case for WRAL TechWire.
“That’s a loss of billions of dollars for Apple investors,” he added. “I think that’s the best indicator that this was a victory for Epic Games.”
The judge did rule that Apple must modify its App Store payments system, giving Epic an opportunity to participate again within the Apple iOS system.
“Given the fact that virtually all antitrust experts predicted apple would win on the anti-trust issues, I don’t think Epic could’ve expected any better outcome,” Verdonik, the cofounder of Raleigh law firm Innovate Capital Law and a veteran of dealing with technology issues, added.
Jim Verdonik
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the company would “fight on” despite the judge’s split decision.
A spokesperson for Epic said the company would have no further comment about the court case at this time beyond a series of tweets from Sweeney.
Verdonik said Apple and its CEO Tim Cook suffered damage in the case.
Apple’s App Store ‘wall’ is cracking – and Epic Games is blowing it up
“This brings to mind the children’s nurse nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall and having a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty back together again,” Verdonik explained.
“In this case Tim Cook is a rotten egg who fell off the wall.
“Given the other cracks in the wall that have recently developed including changes in response to the FTC lawsuit to enable other companies to market through the App Store without charges. And the [new] Korean [law] on Apple and Google. I feel confident that Apple will be searching for new revenue models to replace it’s 30% percent tax on developers.
“I do not foresee an end to the many other cracks in it wall.”
“Walled garden” around Apple’s App Store became a term associated with Apple’s defense.