Apple Scores Victory in Case Against Epic Games

A federal court has sided with Apple in its case against Epic Games, on Wednesday (Dec. 8) issuing a stay of an injunction that would require the company to allow external payment links in the Apple App store.

“Apple has demonstrated, at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions on the merits of the district court’s determination that Epic Games, Inc. failed to show Apple’s conduct violated any antitrust laws but did show that the same conduct violated California’s Unfair Competition Law,” said the ruling, handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Read more: Apple Asks Court to Halt App Store Payments Order

Apple had sought the stay last week. Had the court sided against Apple, the tech giant would have had to begin allowing direct payment alternatives for in-app purchases this week.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the injunction in September, ruling that Apple could not prevent developers from putting in links or taking other steps to steer users away from in-app purchases. Apple appealed the ruling, but Rogers ruled against the company last month.

In its filing Dec. 2, Apple quoted testimony from Trystan Kosmynka, the company’s senior director of app review, who said an injunction would “lower user confidence in … digital content purchases,” hurting Apple and developers, as “users will be less inclined to make purchases.”

Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, has been one of Apple’s harshest critics when it comes to the app store, and is also suing Apple in Australia on similar grounds.

Also read: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney Wants Unified App Store

Last month, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called for a universal app store that would encompass both Google and Apple.

“What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms,” Sweeney said. “Right now, software ownership is fragmented between the iOS App Store, the Android Google Play marketplace, different stores on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and then Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store.”

He added his company is working towards a system with developers and service providers that would allow customers “to buy software in one place, knowing that they’d have it on all devices and all platforms.”