Wow, a rare instance where things didn’t go completely in Apple’s favor.
A judge ruled on the big Epic v Apple case on Friday, and issued a permanent injunction which puts new restrictions on Apple’s rules for they App Store and for now ends a contentious trail between Apple and the makes of the popular game Fortnite.
Here’s the official language of the order Judge Yvonne Gonzalez laid down.
With the new order in effect, Apple 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 communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.”
Translation: Apple can’t prohibit app developers form sending users to use payment options outside of their App Store.
The battle began last August when Fortnite was kicked off the App Store. They got booted for flouting its rules on in-app payments on the iPhone according to a report by CNN.
Apple takes a 30% common on app payments, and justified it by saying the money from in-app payments allows Apple to improve security and privacy for iPhone users.
It wasn’t a total win for Epic. The judge ruled in favor of Apple that Epic was in breach of contract for subverting Apple’s payment system, and she ordered Epic to fork over 30% of $12,167,719 in revenue collected form the IOS version of the Fortnite App, plus 30% of revenue earned after November of last year.
The judge stopped short of calling Apple a monopoly, which is a minor victory for Tim Cook and company.
Expect appeals, and more court drama, as Google is prepping for a lawsuit from Epic Games for something similar.
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