Judge makes permanent the injunction preventing Apple from banning Epic’s Unreal Engine – CNET [CNET]

The battle royale between Epic Games and Apple continues, with a judge on Friday denying a request to force Apple to allow Fortnite back into the App Store while legal proceedings continue. But the US District Court for the Northern District of California also ordered Apple to allow Epic to operate its Unreal Engine developer account in the App Store, Mac Rumors reported.

This means a temporary injunction that allows Fortnite to be banned but doesn’t allow Apple to block Unreal Engine is now permanent.

Apple and Epic didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, but Apple told Bloomberg it’s “grateful the court recognized that Epic’s actions were not in the best interests of its own customers.”

Apple and Epic will continue their court battle in May 2021. This follows Epic suing Apple on Aug. 13 after alleging that the iPhone maker’s rules requiring a 30% cut of all app sales are anticompetitive. Epic broke Apple’s rules by turning on a hidden code in Fortnite through which players could buy items directly from Epic at a discount.

Apple banned Fortnite from the App Store as a result.

Read more: Epic suing Apple and Google over Fortnite bans: Everything you need to know