Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has denied Apple’s request for a stay of the injunction ordering it to let app developers link to non-Apple payment options. The company has 90 days from the verdict to comply.
As part of the Epic v Apple case that went to court this year, Apple was found to be in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law. A permanent injunction declared that, “Apple Inc. […] are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) 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 (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.”
“It’s going to take months to figure out the engineering, economic, business, and other issues,” said Apple’s attorney Mark Perry when requesting a stay on the order. “It is exceedingly complicated. There have to be guardrails and guidelines to protect children, to protect developers, to protect consumers, to protect Apple. And they have to be written into guidelines that can be explained and enforced and applied.”
Epic’s attorney Gary Bornstein suggested this was purely a delaying tactic. “Apple does nothing unless it is forced to do it,” he said.
It seems Judge Rogers agreed. “You haven’t asked for additional time. You’ve asked for an injunction which would effectively take years,” she said. “You asked for an across-the-board stay which could take three, four, five years.”
Since the ruling was first issued in September, Apple has until December 9 to comply. Here’s a full recap of the trial.
Thanks, The Verge.
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