Apple asks to stay court ruling on App Store rules changes

The company is trying to preserve its revenue from in-app commissions.

Apple has asked a U.S. appeals court to temporarily halt enforcement of a ruling that would force the company to allow developers to direct users to external sites to pay for in-app purchases. That could have a major impact on Apple’s revenue, as the company currently takes up to 30% commission on such

The ruling in question is Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ case involving Fortnite developer Epic Games. The judge found that Apple violated California law by restricting developers’ options. The court ruled that federal antitrust laws were not violated.

Apple says it complied with the 2021 order by allowing links to external sites, but it also imposed a new 27% fee and set rules for how such links should be formatted. Epic and other developers have seen this as restrictive and filed complaints.

The court ultimately ruled that Apple had knowingly failed to comply with the previous requirements and referred the case to federal prosecutors for possible contempt of court action. Apple, for its part, has called the new restrictions unfair and unreasonable.

If Apple succeeds in getting a stay of enforcement, developers like Amazon and Spotify that have already made changes to their apps may be forced to roll them back.

Source: Bloomberg

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