An appellate judge acknowledged inconsistencies in a court judgment clearing Apple Inc. of antitrust claims from Epic Games Inc., yet the appeals court panel repeatedly returned to the “Fortnite” maker’s “failure to prove” elements of a monopoly during a hearing Monday afternoon.

A panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in Epic’s appeal and Apple’s cross-appeal of a Sept. 10 judgment from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California. The district judge found that the game developer failed to prove its nine counts of violations of the Sherman Act and the California Cartwright Act against Apple after a May bench trial.