The judge in Epic v. Apple thinks Apple’s being shady about buttons and links

1 week ago

‘Other than to stifle competition, I spot nary different answer. Can you springiness maine one?’

By Sarah Jeong, features editor who publishes award-winning stories astir law, tech, and net subcultures. A journalist trained arsenic a lawyer, she has been penning astir tech for 10 years.

May 8, 2024, 7:22 PM UTC

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Epic Games and Apple are successful tribunal for evidentiary hearings for nan adjacent mates of weeks complete whether Apple violated nan anti-steering injunction group down by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers successful 2021 aft their landmark trial.

These hearings are going to beryllium a batch of nitty-gritty specifications astir App Store guidelines. Today, for example, involves a batch of questioning astir buttons. (Apple restricts button styles for links that spell outside of their in-app costs system.)

But this interjection, from Judge Rogers, doesn’t look bully for Apple:

I can’t ideate a logical logic why Apple would request that of competitor apps. What’s a logical competitory reason, not for suggesting it, but demanding it? ... Other than to stifle competition, I spot nary different answer. Can you springiness maine one?

Nobody wants to opine connected really a judge is going to norm — particularly not based connected a stray remark successful an evidentiary proceeding — but oof.