Epic Games told to pay Apple over $73 mn in legal costs by court

San Francisco: Apple has demanded that Fortnite creator Epic Games pay them more than $73 million for legal fees amid their ongoing dispute over App Store payment methods.

On January 16, the US Supreme Court refused to consider any side's appeals, ending the three-year legal battle between Epic Games and Apple. But, after the case was over, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic Games owes Apple $73 million in legal fees and other costs, reports Apple Insider.

This $73 million is not the final figure, though. The court's ‘Notice of Motion’ has scheduled a hearing regarding the fee on March 24, "plus additional amounts Apple is incurring during this ongoing litigation, under the indemnification provision of the Developer Program License Agreement", the report mentioned.

A few years ago, Epic Games placed an alternate payment method in Fortnite Mobile that bypassed Apple's in-app payment system, causing one of the biggest gaming disputes in history.

The Fortnite creator filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, which has now been denied trial by the US Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Apple has updated its App Store guidelines that allow developers to link to outside websites for in-app purchases.

"App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1 has been updated to introduce the StoreKit Purchase Link Entitlement (US), which allows apps that offer in-app purchases in the iOS or iPadOS App Store on the US storefront the ability to include a link to the developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase digital goods or services," Apple said in a blogpost.