Court ruling bars Apple from charging 27% commission on purchases outside the App Store
Apple is now immediately prohibited from collecting commissions on purchases made outside its Apple App Store, following a decisive ruling by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Epic v. Apple case. Effective immediately, Apple is prohibited from charging any fee for out-of-app transactions, reversing its controversial 27% commission policy that had faced strong criticism for undermining a 2021 injunction.
The ruling also bans Apple from controlling how developers add external links or buttons for alternate payments, blocking such features, or using warning messages that deter users from leaving an app to make purchases elsewhere. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated Apple acted “willfully” in violating her previous court order and referred the company to the US attorney for potential criminal contempt proceedings, highlighting the seriousness of the misconduct. She refused to pause the enforcement, citing Apple’s repeated delays and misconduct.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced that Fortnite will return to the US App Store next week as a direct result of the court’s decision. Sweeney further stated that if Apple applies the policy changes globally, Epic would end all litigation and restore Fortnite worldwide. Apple says it will comply with the order but intends to appeal.
- App Store
- Free • Proprietary
Related news
External links
- Epic v. Apple Contempt orderDocumentCloud • Official source
- US judge rules Apple violated order to reform App StoreReuters
- Court orders Apple to allow external purchase links in appsMacworld
- US Judge rules Apple willfully violated and ignored court's 2021 decision Neowin
- A judge just blew up Apple’s control of the App StoreThe Verge
- Apple banned from monetizing and restricting external payment links in apps in the USGSMArena.com
Comments
Typo in title. I guess it's meant to say Court ruling BANS not Court ruling BARS.
It's not a typo, it's just the verb “bar”, since it's a decision of justice.
Ou thanks. Sorry about that.
This "let's save some time, Justice will forget us" behavior, doubled with some doubtful management decision from the very top, just like Apple Card Justice decision last year, can tell a lot about how much money is ruling any of theses giant companies. I will not say that the Apple is rot but the slippery slope is near enough, and there is surely some cleaning to do in the top management. Will any change will change soon, for the sake of users? It really depends of how low Apple executives will accept to blend in front of actual government. Maybe a very small exploitable iOS flaw could revert this decision. Personally, I cannot care less.
Well I believe this is gonna cut a good chunk of their profits so I doubt this is a management issue and just investors having a meltdown? Personally I can also see the conflict of providing (servers, software infrastructure, moderation and security), yet not being allowed to force tax. But since its a monopoly and they chose the only way should be through them (Sub-Appstores right?, instead of sideloading), requiring their provision, thus trying to dodge these anti-monopoly measures to keep sitting on their privilege justifies the ruling I think.