Apple Asks Court to Halt App Store Payments Order

Attorneys for Apple are asking a federal appeals court to halt an injunction that would require the tech giant to allow external payment links in its App Store.

In an appeal filed on Thursday (Dec. 2) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Apple’s lawyers argue that Apple would suffer “irreparable harm” without a stay on the injunction, which stems from the long-running legal dispute between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the injunction in September, telling Apple it could no longer prevent developers from setting up links or doing anything that would that steer users away from Apple’s in-app purchasing. Apple had appealed the judge’s ruling, but she ruled against the company in November. The injunction is set to go into effect on Dec. 9.

Read more: Federal Judge Orders Apple to Open App Store Payments as Planned

But in Thursday’s filings, Apple’s attorneys point to earlier testimony from Trystan Kosmynka, the company’s senior director of app review, who had testified that the injunction will “lower user confidence in … digital content purchases,” hurting both Apple and developers, as “users will be less inclined to make purchases.”

Epic has been one of the toughest critics of Apple’s control over the App Store, which imposes strict rules and mandates that many developers use an in-app payment system that takes anywhere from 15-30% of every transaction. The game maker is also suing Apple in Australia on similar grounds.

Learn more: Australia Green-Lights Epic Games Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple

Apple’s latest appeal argues that Epic has no standing in preventing the injunction, and says that it is “in the public interest” to stop it.

“Apple has already complied with half of the injunction — and settled with a class comprising 99% of U.S. developers of paid apps — by deleting the provision … that precluded developers from engaging in targeted out-of-app communications with customers,” the filing says.

But by implementing the other half of the injunction — which requires Apple to “delete the prohibition against buttons, external links and other calls to action” — would hurt “millions of participants on both sides of the App Store platform,” the company’s lawyers argue.