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This should alarm any developer. Any iOS developer could be at risk to pay Apple punitive damages whenever they determine their rules have been broken.
by tmotwu 6y ago
This should alarm any developer. Any iOS developer could be at risk to pay Apple punitive damages whenever they determine their rules have been broken.
- kingnothing 6y agoThat's exactly how contract law works.
- m3kw9 6y agoIf they are dumb enough to pull this Epic move and sue Apple you bet they will sue back
- simonh 6y agoThe punitive damages are not for simply breaking the rules, this is made very clear in the filing, they are for knowingly and deliberately breaking them with a full understanding of the legal consequences for doing so.
- pier25 6y agoThe punitive damage could as simple as Apple putting you out of business if you rely mostly on your iOS app to survive. We've seen this many times, it's not exclusive to the case against Epic.
- DonaldPShimoda 6y agoApple is explicitly stating that they retaliated so hard against Epic specifically because Epic (1) asked for permission to break the contract, and then (2) broke the contract when they did not receive permission (even going so far as to send upper Apple leadership a letter informing them of the decision). So Apple's argument is that Epic was deliberately trying to start a big dramatic issue, and Apple wants compensation for being dragged into it. --- Please note that I have not weighed in on whether I think Apple or Epic is in the right (legally or otherwise). I'm just informing you of their justification, and why they claim this isn't a danger for other developers who may accidentally (or, perhaps, much more minorly) break the terms of service.
- simonh 6y agoThen complain about those cases, not this one where the argument does not hold.
- pjmlp 6y agoJust like game consoles have been doing for the last 40 years.
- orangecat 6y agoRight. And some of us are very opposed to that model taking over the majority of computing.
- pjmlp 6y agoThen give money to companies that don't offer that model. I have no understanding for anyone that buys Apple and then complains.
- sunderw 6y agoThere aren't a lot of alternatives in the smartphone space. If you don't like Android, you're stuck with Apple. Now if both are abusing their power, using your reasoning, you're supposed to say and do nothing ?
- mvanbaak 6y agoNo, one is allowed to do something. One could, you know, make a case that it should be illegal, go to court to get that official, and then the way to implement your own payment processing is open. But beginning at the last step, is totally the wrong order to do these kind of things. Besides that, Epic and Apple had an agreement the moment Epic published fortnite in the app store. If they dont like the contract, they can leave. Again, if they think the terms are illegal, go fight that out BEFORE you implement something that breaks the contract.
- pjmlp 6y agoYes, just like I don't have a say in what the supermarket around the corner decides to sell, besides taking the effort to go somewhere else. Or what goes into each game console, my cable provider installs on their set top box, and so on.
- Bud 6y agoThat's not a realistic risk. Epic planned ahead to pick a fight, prepared dishonest advertising, again in advance, and has generally acted in bad faith. I for one am happy to see Apple fire back with both barrels. Epic deserves it. A message has to be sent.