Apple asks court to make Epic pay damages in Fortnite lawsuit

Apple raised the stakes in its lawsuit with Epic over the video game Fortnite Tuesday. The iPhone maker requested monetary damages if it successfully convinces a judge that it was within its rights to kick Fortnite off its more than 1.5 billion active iPhones and iPads last month when Epic activated code it knew broke Apple’s app store rules.

In its filing ahead of a hearing scheduled for later this month, Apple repeated arguments it’s made before about the size and importance of its app store, which first launched in 2008. It said the store now counts more than 27 million developers worldwide, and 1 billion customers across 175 countries. There are also 1.8 million apps, Apple said.

All told, Apple estimates that amounts to 2.1 million US jobs supported by its app store economy. 

But, Apple argued, “The App Store is also a business.” And though Apple doesn’t say how much it costs to run its App Store, the company said it took commissions of about 18% of the $140 billion in sales facilitated through apps on its service.  

“Through the App Store, Apple serves as the platform that connects developers with the millions of iOS customers who rely on Apple to provide a safe environment to download apps onto their Apple devices without compromising privacy, security, or functionality,” Apple said.