Epic Games vs. Apple: Court says Apple has to allow third-party payment options

In the case of Epic Games vs. Apple, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled today in favor of Epic forcing Apple to allow its developers use third-party payment options in their apps.

A paragraph of the permanent injunction of Epic Games vs. Apple states the following:

“Apple Inc. and its officers, agents, servants, employees, and any person in active concert or participation with them (“Apple”), are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) 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.”

This decision comes after Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple for the removal of Fortnite from the App Store. Apple removed Fortnite because Epic Games gave users the ability to bypass Apple’s payment platform, avoiding the 30% Apple fee for purchases.

It wasn’t a complete win for Epic Games. The judge ruled in favor of Apple in other issues. Though Judge Gonzalez Rogers stated Apple doesn’t have a monopoly under federal laws, she said that Apple’s actions are anticompetitive.

Epic has to pay Apple about $3.6 million for the 30% Apple fee Epic didn’t charge users of Fortnite.

[Source]: IGN: Epic v. Apple: Judge Rules Apple Must Allow Developers to Direct App Users to Outside Payment Options – [Archive].