Supreme Court Rebuffs Apple’s Appeal On App Payments, Threatening Billions In Revenue

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple’s grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, and potentially affect billions of dollars in revenue a year.

The justices rejected Apple’s appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple’s app store rules for apps purchased on more than 1 billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law.

The appeal stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite video game.

Epic lost its broader claim that Apple was violating federal antitrust law, and the justices also rejected Epic’s appeal Tuesday.