Court Order Prevents Apple From Banning Epic Games Unreal Engine

After the hearing between the attorneys of Apple and Epic Games, the judge made the first ruling on the case. Epic asked for an order to stop Apple from blocking Fortnite and the Unreal Engine on their platforms, and Epic won "half" in this preliminary hearing.

Apple is currently under a court of law that prevents the company from terminating developer accounts related to the Unreal Engine or other Epic products. However, Apple is not forced to bring Fortnite back to the App Store.

The core element of Epic's protection here is that the company has multiple Apple developer accounts, each linked to a different subsidiary.

This means that the company signed different contracts for each. Therefore, breach of the contract by adding direct payments through Fortnite only applies to Epic Games.

The court's position is that there is no breach of the contract as it pertains to the entity representing the Unreal Engine and other assets. Apple also cannot provide convincing arguments to claim the damage at this early stage.

This ruling concerns only initial restraining orders and is considered preliminary actions to create a fair market while the case continues. Both Apple and Epic will have the opportunity to bring their full filings to trial when the case goes to trial.

However, before the trial period, Epic Games is asking for a temporary order to force Apple to bring Fortnite back to the store. A hearing about that will take place in late September.