9th Circuit hears battle over iPhone app store

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is heading into a courtroom face-off against the company behind the popular Fortnite video game, reviving a high-stakes antitrust battle over whether the digital fortress shielding the iPhone’s app store illegally enriches the world’s most valuable company while stifling competition.

Oral arguments Monday before three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are the latest volley in legal battle revolving around an app store that provides a wide range of products to more than 1 billion iPhones and serves as a pillar in Apple’s $2.4 trillion empire.

After hearing Monday’s arguments in San Francisco, the appeals court isn’t expected to rule for another six months to a year. The issue is so important to both companies that the losing side is likely to take the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, a process that could extend into 2024 or 2025.

The tussle dates back to August 2020 when Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, filed an antitrust lawsuit in an attempt to obliterate the walls that have given Apple exclusive control over the iPhone app store since its inception 14 years ago.

That ironclad control over the app store has enabled Apple to impose commissions that give it a 15% to 30% cut of purchases made for digital services sold by other companies. By some estimates, those commissions pay Apple $15 billion to $20 billion annually — revenue that the company says helps cover the cost of the technology for the iPhone and a store that now contains nearly 2 million mostly free apps.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Gonzalez Rogers sided almost entirely with Apple in a 185-page ruling issued 13 months ago.