Apple says Epic lawsuit shouldn’t reshape App Store rules for all developers

苹果称 Epic 诉讼案不应重塑所有开发者的 App Store 规则

In Apple’s seemingly never-ending lawsuit with Fortnite maker Epic Games over App Store commissions, the iPhone maker is once again fighting a court’s ruling. 在苹果公司与《堡垒之夜》（Fortnite）开发商 Epic Games 关于 App Store 佣金那场似乎永无止境的诉讼中，这家 iPhone 制造商再次对法院的裁决发起挑战。

Its latest tactic? Saying that Epic Games’ beef with Apple over its fee structure shouldn’t lead to an injunction that applies to all developers that publish on the U.S. App Store, including other tech giants like Microsoft and Spotify, which weren’t a part of this particular litigation. 其最新的策略是什么？苹果声称，Epic Games 对其收费结构的不满，不应导致一项适用于所有在美国 App Store 发布应用的开发者的禁令，这其中也包括微软（Microsoft）和 Spotify 等并未参与此项诉讼的科技巨头。

“Epic never brought a class action and never attempted to show that enjoining Apple’s conduct against all other developers — like Microsoft or Spotify, who have nothing to do with Epic — was somehow necessary to provide relief to Epic,” reads Apple’s new petition, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court ruling. 苹果在请求美国最高法院复审下级法院裁决的新请愿书中写道：“Epic 从未提起集体诉讼，也从未试图证明，禁止苹果针对所有其他开发者（如与 Epic 无关的微软或 Spotify）的行为，对于向 Epic 提供救济是必要的。”

In the same document, Apple also argues against the Ninth Circuit’s civil contempt order over Apple’s compliance with the injunction. The court had ruled that Apple must give developers the right to include links in their apps — links that could direct users to alternative payment options outside of Apple’s own system — if they chose to do so. 在同一份文件中，苹果还对第九巡回法院因苹果遵守禁令情况而作出的民事藐视法庭裁定提出了异议。法院此前裁定，如果开发者选择这样做，苹果必须赋予他们在应用中包含链接的权利——这些链接可以将用户引导至苹果自身系统之外的替代支付选项。

Apple did permit this as required, but charged fees on those outside purchases, leading to the contempt order. The Ninth Circuit said that charging fees of 27% on external payments defeated the purpose of allowing them — which, well, it did. 苹果确实按要求允许了这一点，但却对这些外部购买收取费用，从而导致了藐视法庭的裁定。第九巡回法院表示，对外部支付收取 27% 的费用违背了允许这些支付方式的初衷——嗯，确实如此。

But Apple is pushing back on specific legal grounds. Its new argument focuses on whether a federal court can hold a party in civil contempt for violating the “spirit” of an injunction when the injunction itself was written in a way that left room for interpretation and said nothing about commissions (i.e., it didn’t specifically prohibit fees on external purchases, so technically, Apple believes it did nothing wrong). 但苹果正基于具体的法律依据进行反击。其新的论点集中在：当禁令本身的措辞留有解释空间且未提及佣金时（即它没有明确禁止对外部购买收费，因此从技术上讲，苹果认为自己没有做错），联邦法院是否可以以违反禁令“精神”为由，判定一方当事人民事藐视法庭。

Apple has seemingly infinite money to fund its legal battles. The company has been fighting Epic’s original 2020 lawsuit for over five years now with no end in sight. 苹果似乎有无限的资金来支持其法律诉讼。该公司与 Epic 在 2020 年发起的原始诉讼已经持续了五年多，且目前仍看不到终点。

Epic Games criticized Apple’s latest move as “one last Hail Mary to delay a conclusion to this case and avoid opening up the gates to payment competition for the benefit of consumers.” Epic Games 批评苹果的最新举动是“为了推迟案件结论，并避免为消费者利益开启支付竞争大门而进行的最后一次孤注一掷”。

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected Apple’s request to pause additional proceedings until the court could determine whether the sanctions were justified. This week, Epic Games announced that Fortnite was back in the App Store globally (save for Australia), because it believes the court is on its side and will not allow Apple’s fee structure to stand as is. 本月早些时候，最高法院驳回了苹果要求暂停后续诉讼程序，直到法院能够确定制裁是否合理的请求。本周，Epic Games 宣布《堡垒之夜》已在全球（澳大利亚除外）的 App Store 上架，因为它相信法院站在自己这一边，不会允许苹果的收费结构维持现状。