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The Fortnite app on a smartphone
Photo: Dado Ruvic / REUTERS
Only when the legal dispute with the developer company Epic Games is completely over will Apple want to return the popular online game "Fortnite" to its App Store.
The iPhone company declined a request for the resumption, according to a letter published by Epic boss Tim Sweeney on Twitter.
Apple referred, among other things, to the previous "duplicitous" behavior of the game company.
In the dispute between Apple and Epic, which has been going on for more than a year, the first judgment was given ten days ago.
A judge in California ruled, among other things, that Apple was entitled to ban Epic and "Fortnite" from the App Store.
Epic wanted to enforce the right to operate its own app store on the iPhone.
This would allow the company to sell "Fortnite" players digital content without having to pay Apple the commission otherwise due for such transfers.
After Apple insisted on its rules, Epic set out to fight.
Escalation with announcement
The game company secretly built a payment option into the app that was supposed to bypass Apple's payment system.
After the function was activated, Apple threw "Fortnite" from the App Store for violating the terms of the contract.
Epic complained against it.
more on the subject
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Dispute over fees in the App Store: Apple and Epic go into the next round
Epic Games versus Apple: It's about the "Fortnite" millions and Apple billions. A Netzwelt newsletter from Markus Böhm
Battle Royale: How the "Fortnite" manufacturer goes into battle against Apple and GoogleBy Matthias Kremp
In her judgment, the judge did not touch Apple's commission of 15 to 30 percent for sales of digital goods, nor did the in-house app store be the only platform for downloading apps on the iPhone.
However, it stipulated that in the future Apple should no longer prohibit developers from advising users of options for purchasing their items outside of the app store.
Epic appealed the verdict.
At the same time, Sweeney promised in an email to Apple that Epic would adhere to the rules that apply to all developers in the future.
"Apple lied," he protested after the rejection of the request on Twitter in view of earlier statements by the iPhone company that Epic would be welcomed again if the conditions were met.
In their letter to Epic, Apple's lawyers also pointed out that Sweeney said after the verdict that they would not give up their own purchasing system in order to get back into the App Store.
Apple will only consider further return requests when the judge's judgment is final and can no longer be appealed.
This process could take up to five years, criticized Sweeney.
There was initially no further comment from Apple.
mak / dpa