Oliver Haslam·

Apple Wins Stay In Epic Case And Wont Have To Implement App Store Changes Just Yet

Apple has won a stay on an injunction that would have required it to make big App Store changes today as a result of the legal battle with Epic Games. For now, Apple can continue to force developers to use its in-app payment system without the ability to use third-party alternatives.

Apple had been ordered to allow developers to give customers an alternative to using the App Store for in-app purchases, with the company given until today to make those changes.

However, a stay means that isn’t needed now — with a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision meaning Apple won’t need to make changes until its appeals are done and dusted. And that could take years.

Apple has demonstrated, at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions on the merits of the district court’s determination that Epic Games, Inc. failed to show Apple’s conduct violated any antitrust laws but did show that the same conduct violated California’s Unfair Competition Law. […]

Therefore, we grant Apple’s motion to stay part (i) of paragraph (1) of the permanent injunction. The stay will remain in effect until the mandate issues in this appeal.

This all stems from Apple’s decision to kick Fortnite out of the App Store following Epic’s switch to its own payment system — ditching the App Store’s. That was against App Store rules and the two companies have been arguing about it ever since. Fortnite doesn’t seem likely to come back to the App Store until the legal battle dies down — if ever.

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