Danny Weber
An appeals court has ruled against Apple, forcing the company to alter its App Store commission model for external payments. Epic Games scores a victory in the ongoing legal dispute.
Apple just suffered another setback in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games over the App Store commission. An appeals court has canceled a stay that had allowed Apple to temporarily maintain its existing commission model while it sought to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The company must now return to a lower court, which will determine what fees Apple can charge developers who use external payment systems. The judges noted that Apple failed to demonstrate a reasonable chance that the Supreme Court would hear the case, and did not convince them of the seriousness of potential harm.
The dispute between Apple and Epic began several years ago and has become one of the industry's most high-profile cases. Although Apple largely won the initial trial, the court ordered it to loosen restrictions that prevented developers from directing users to alternative payment methods. Apple was later found to have violated that order.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has already said that Apple's attempts to drag out the process have failed. The final decision on commissions now rests with a California court, though Apple could still try to appeal to the Supreme Court.
© A. Krivonosov