{"title":"Epic Battles in Two-Sided Markets","authors":"Brianna L. Alderman, R. Blair","doi":"10.1177/0003603X231180250","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Epic Games, the developer of the enormously popular Fortnite, sued Apple for allegedly violating §1 and §2 of the Sherman Act. The central issue was Apple’s requirement that iPhone-compatible apps be purchased in its App Store. Because Apple collects a 30 percent ad valorem tax on each transaction, Epic Games offered an alternative payment option to iPhone owners through the Fortnite app so that consumers could avoid Apple’s 30% fee. When Apple expelled Epic Games from its App Store, Epic sued. In this article, we examine the flawed analysis of the District Court, which can be traced to a fundamental misunderstanding of economic principles.","PeriodicalId":36832,"journal":{"name":"Antitrust Bulletin","volume":"68 1","pages":"519 - 532"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Antitrust Bulletin","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X231180250","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Epic Games, the developer of the enormously popular Fortnite, sued Apple for allegedly violating §1 and §2 of the Sherman Act. The central issue was Apple’s requirement that iPhone-compatible apps be purchased in its App Store. Because Apple collects a 30 percent ad valorem tax on each transaction, Epic Games offered an alternative payment option to iPhone owners through the Fortnite app so that consumers could avoid Apple’s 30% fee. When Apple expelled Epic Games from its App Store, Epic sued. In this article, we examine the flawed analysis of the District Court, which can be traced to a fundamental misunderstanding of economic principles.