Epic Games has scored another procedural win in its fight with Apple over App Store fees, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has now granted the Fortnite maker’s latest motion. The decision means Apple must continue to allow developers to link to external payment options in their apps without charging commissions on those purchases, for now.
An earlier order had let Apple pause further proceedings related to the required App Store changes while it sought Supreme Court review. Epic Games derided Apple’s move as “another delay tactic” and asked the court to reconsider the decision.
The latest ruling means Apple’s request to pause the proceedings related to the changes has been reversed temporarily, swinging things back in developers’ favor and forcing the iPhone maker to keep the changes in place, at least for the time being.
The final outcome of the case will determine whether, and how much, Apple can charge in commissions on purchases made outside its U.S. App Store.
In a post on X, Epic celebrated the court’s decision in its favor, pointing to the latest filing, which stated, “Apple has failed to show good cause to sustain our prior stay order. Apple has not demonstrated that any proceedings on remand will cause it irreparable harm if our decision is not stayed.”
In other words, the court wasn’t persuaded that Apple would suffer serious damage if the App Store changes stayed in place while the legal battle continued.
Updated to further clarify that the District court will rule on the amount of the commission Apple can charge on link-out purchases, so any changes right now are temporary.
