The U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal dismissed Epic Games Inc.'s lawsuit against Apple Inc. in the country, ruling that the U.S. is an "appropriate forum" for the proceedings.

Justice Peter Roth said in a Feb. 22 decision that the Fortnite creator's complaint against Apple in the U.K. has a "substantial overlap" with its present lawsuit in the U.S.

"Many of the same issues of substance which arise under U.K. competition law arise under U.S. antitrust law," Roth said.

The ruling further stated that Apple (UK) Ltd., one of the defendants in Epic Games' U.K. suit, "does not provide support for technological or systems related issues."

Meanwhile, the tribunal allowed hearing Epic Games' U.K. suit against Google LLC over its restrictive terms. According to the ruling, it is "reasonable" to hold a trial over the U.S. games developer's claim against the Alphabet Inc. unit given that Google Ireland Ltd., one of the defendants in the suit, is designated the counterparty for the U.K.

London-based company Google Payment Ltd. is said to be responsible for the processing of payment transactions in the U.K.

The tribunal said that Alphabet and Google are also "proper parties" to complaints about developer agreements and the removal of Fortnite on the Google Play Store. Google Commerce Ltd. is also a defendant in the suit.

Epic Games' complaint against Google alleged that developers "cannot use the Google Play Store to distribute other app stores" and "cannot choose to use alternative payment processing tools."