Epic Games Denied Preliminary Injunction for Fortnite, But Apple Can't Block Unreal Engine

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A California judge today denied Epic Games' request for a preliminary injunction that would have required Apple to allow Fortnite back to the App Store, this means the app will continue steadily to remain unavailable on Apple's iOS platform throughout the legal battle between your two companies.

While the Fortnite app for iOS devices will never be reinstated in to the ‌App Store‌, Epic did successfully win an order that may require Apple to continue to allow Epic to use its Unreal Engine developer account.

The decisions made today by the court aren't a surprise and echo the ruling made throughout a request for a short-term restraining order, where in fact the judge made the same determinations and allowed Apple to ban the Fortnite iphone app but prevented the Cupertino company from blocking the Unreal Engine.

The court says that in regard to Fortnite, preliminary injunctive relief is "rarely granted," with the ruling pointing out an order for injunctive relief would require Epic to establish that it is more likely to succeed in the legal battle, it is likely to suffer irreparable harm without relief, the balance of equities tips in its favor, and an injunction is in the general public interest, none of which ‌Epic Games‌ could do.

‌Epic Games‌ has claimed that it ought to be given injunctive relief since it should not need to comply with an anti-competitive ‌App Store‌ contract, but the court has rejected this argument multiple times because ‌Epic Games‌ deliberately breached its contract with Apple and caused Fortnite to be banned.

‌Epic Games‌ cannot simply exclaim "monopoly" to rewrite agreements giving itself unilateral benefit. Its other recognized bases: harm to its reputation and the Fortnite gaming community cannot constitute irreparable harm where such harm flows from ‌Epic Games‌' own actions and its strategic decision to breach its agreements with Apple. While consumers are feeling the impact of the litigation, the actual fact remains: they are business disputes.

To assist, the Court even wanted to require the 30% to be placed in escrow pending resolution of the trial which ‌Epic Games‌ flatly rejected. The refusal to take action suggests ‌Epic Games‌ is not principally worried about iOS consumers, but instead, harbors other tactical moves. ‌Epic Games‌ admits that the technology exists to "fix" the condition by easily deactivating the "hotfix."

Apple and ‌Epic Games‌ aren't expected to be back court to keep the legal dispute until May of 2021, so Fortnite fans will be without usage of the overall game on Apple's devices for quite a while. Apple in August terminated the Fortnite developer account. 
Source: https://www.macrumors.com

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