Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the District Court of the Northern District of California, USA, on Friday, Epic Games vs. Apple Inc.Make a ruling on the company's antitrust lawsuit.
Rogers issued a ban, saying that Apple Inc will no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other ways to guide users to bypass intra-app payments. The ban resolves long-standing complaints from app developers and increases the possibility that developers may redirect their users to their third-party websites to subscribe to or buy digital content, which is not conducive to Apple Inc's App Store sales.
The judge said that Apple Inc's behavior in enforcing the restriction and guidance clause was anti-competitive. After the announcement, Apple Inc's shares fell more than 3 per cent in intraday trading.
The decision ends the first part of the battle between the two companies over App Store policy and whether to stifle competition. Apple Inc won nine out of 10 charges, but was found to have engaged in anti-competitive behavior under California law and will be forced to change its App Store policy and loosen controls on internal purchase of applications. The ban will take effect in December.
"the court concluded that Apple Inc's anti-guidance clause hid key information from consumers and illegally stifled consumers' choices," Rogers wrote. Coupled with Apple Inc's initial anti-monopoly violations, these anti-guidance provisions are anti-competitive, and it is necessary to take remedial measures throughout the United States to eliminate these provisions. "
However, according to Rogers, Apple Inc is not a monopolist and "success is not illegal".
"given the trial records, the court could not finally conclude that Apple Inc was a monopolist under federal or state antitrust laws," Rogers wrote.
The trial was held in Oakland, Calif., in May, and CEO of both companies testified in open court.
Since the end of the trial but before the verdict, Apple Inc has made some concessions, some of which are part of a settlement with other app developers, including relaxing some rules on sending emails to customers to encourage them to make out-of-app purchases and allowing links to be provided in some apps.
Rogers also ruled that Epic Games must also pay compensation to Apple Inc because the former breached the contract. Epic Games will pay Apple Inc 30% of all revenue from its iOS "Fortnite (Fortnite)" game through direct payment.
Epic Games also sued Alphabet Inc-CL CThe Google Play store that controls Android phones. The case has not yet been heard.