The global fight over app stores landed in Australia in late 2020, when Epic Games filed suits against Apple and Google in the Federal Court. Its claim: the tech giants’ iron grip on app distribution and payments breached Aussie competition laws.

What followed was one of the biggest competition law trials the country has seen.

Back in 2020, Apple and Google removed Epic Games’ Fortnite from their app stores for introducing its own in-app payment systems, bypassing the 30% commission charged by the tech giants. Epic was on the legal offensive, starting actions across multiple jurisdictions.

In the US, Epic sued on the same day of its ban, though its case against Apple largely failed under US antitrust law. It also filed a complaint with EU regulators, bolstering momentum for new rules like the EU Digital Markets Act, forcing both companies to open their platforms to third-party app stores and payments.

Australia became another critical front.

In late 2020, Epic launched Federal Court proceedings against Apple and, in 2021, against Google. It alleged that the tech giants misused market power under s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act by restricting the use of in-app payment systems and alternate distribution methods. Epic also claimed both companies had engaged in anti-competitive conduct and acted unconscionably.

It was the first major test of Australia’s revamped misuse of market power law, which was amended in 2017 to add an “effects test” — where a company’s conduct has the purpose, effect, or likely effect of substantially lessening competition, regardless of whether it had intent.

The result was a combined mega-trial: Epic’s cases against Apple and Google rolled together with two class actions from app developers and consumers, all overseen by Justice Jonathan Beach.

The courtroom was stacked with nine of Australia’s most esteemed silks and a team of formidable lawyers when the trial opened.