JUDGE: APPLE can’t force developers to use in-app purchasing…

• Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Friday handed down a decision in a closely watched trial between Apple and Epic Games.
• Rogers issued an injunction that said Apple will no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other communications that direct users away from Apple in-app purchasing.
• Rogers said Apple was not a monopolist and “success is not illegal.”

Apple’s lucrative App Store business received a major blow Friday thanks to a federal judge’s decision in the company’s legal battle with Epic Games.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down the decision in the closely watched trial, and issued an injunction that said Apple will no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other communications that direct users away from Apple in-app purchasing. Apple typically takes a 15% to 30% cut of gross sales.

The injunction addresses a longstanding developer complaint and raises the possibility that developers could direct their users to their website to subscribe to or purchase digital content, hurting Apple’s App Store sales, which grossed an estimated $64 billion in 2020.

www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/epic-games-v-apple-judge-reaches-decision-.html