Epic Games has scored another procedural victory in its battle with Apple over App Store fees, as the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Fortnite maker’s latest motion. The decision means that for now, Apple must continue to allow developers to link to external payment options within their apps without charging a fee for those purchases.
A previous order allowed Apple to temporarily halt necessary App Store changes while it sought review from the Supreme Court. Epic Games derided Apple’s move as “another delaying tactic” and asked the court to reconsider its decision.
The latest ruling means Apple’s request to put the changes on hold has been rescinded, turning the tide back in the developer’s favor and forcing the iPhone maker to keep the rate changes in place, at least for the time being.
The final outcome of the lawsuit will determine whether and how much Apple can collect fees on purchases made outside the U.S. App Store.
In a post on X, Epic praised the court’s favorable ruling and pointed to the latest motion stating, “Apple has not shown good cause to sustain the previous injunction. Apple has not demonstrated that the remand proceeding would cause irreparable harm if our decision is not stayed.”
In other words, the court was not convinced that Apple would be seriously harmed if the App Store changes remained in place while the legal battle continued.
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