Apple suspended a resolution calling for changes to App Store policies to ensure competition in the ongoing legal battle against Epic Games.
In September, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in Apple’s favor in all but one of Epic Games’ claims, ordering Apple to remove App Store policies that were found to violate California’s Unfair Competition Law.
The aforementioned measures prevent the purchase of in-game items by linking to external websites, which prevents Apple from earning 30 percent of revenue.
Apple was given 90 days to implement the changes, but a last-minute decision in the past 12 hours has allowed Apple little to not have to make the changes. Apple first appealed the decision in October, claiming that the changes would harm both users and developers of iOS platforms.
The judges, who issued the suspension order, stated that any of Apple’s actions did not violate antitrust law, but that the same behavior violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, so there were some questions in mind.
An Apple spokesperson made the following comments:
“Our concern is that these changes would have created new privacy and security risks, and disrupted the user experience customers love about the App Store.”
With the appeal successful, Apple will not need to change as the appeal process continues.
In October, following an investigation into App Store apps, a Dutch antitrust authority found Apple’s App Store payments to be anticompetitive and ordered the firm to change its in-app payment system. Apple appealed the decision and requested that the decision not be published until after the appeal process.
