Epic v. Apple judge rules Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases

U.S. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers issued a permanent injunction in the Epic Games v. Apple case on September 10th. Under the ruling, Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases:

“Apple Inc. [is]… permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.”

The injunction concludes a lengthy and bitter court battle between the companies. Epic argued that Apple’s App Store fees were a monopolistic tax, while the iPhone-maker said the fees were a necessary operating cost. However, Gonzalez-Rogers explained in the full ruling that neither company was entirely correct.

“The relevant market here is digital mobile gaming transactions, not gaming generally and not Apple’s own internal operating systems related to the App Store,” wrote Gonzalez-Rogers. Going by that definition, “the court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws. Nonetheless, the trial did show that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California’s competition laws.”

In other words, Apple’s effort to block alternate payment methods in apps was anti-competitive. Going forward, Apple will need to allow developers to offer other forms of in-app purchases if they choose.

The Verge notes that these new restrictions echo some provisional anti-steering restrictions placed on Apple outside the U.S. For example, Apple recently allowed app developers to offer alternate payment methods over email, agreed to allow outside signup links for ‘reader’ apps like Netflix and Spotify following a Japanese regulatory investigation. Moreover, a recent South Korean law also opened the door for alternate payment systems in the app store.

The ruling will likely have significant impacts beyond Apple and its App Store. Epic sued Google for similar reasons, and the search giant is also battling an antitrust suit filed by several U.S. state attorneys general.

However, it remains to be seen how much the ruling will impact developers and users on Apple’s platform.

Source: The Verge