The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier today granted Apple’s motion to delay court-mandated changes to its App Store payment policies — reports Bloomberg.
The changes were originally ordered by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling in the Apple vs. Epic Games trial, which the iPhone maker promptly appealed against.
The changes were supposed to go live by December 9, but have now been delayed pending the result of Apple’s appeal, which will take at least a year to resolve.
While Judge Rogers’ September ruling absolved the iPhone maker of antitrust allegations, it also required Apple to make some big changes to its App Store policies: let Epic, and other developers, tell users about alternative payment solutions in apps, and even link out to their own transaction systems, circumventing Apple’s 30% commission on App Store transactions.
Apple argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the ordered changes “will harm customers, developers and Apple itself.”
The fact that Apple in October actually satisfied half of Judge Rogers’ order by allowing developers to directly inform users of alternative payment options lent credence to the tech giant’s argument.
The part of the order Apple was seeking to delay enforcement of involves in-app advertising for and direct links to third-party payment methods.
Apple has shown “at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions” on the lower court’s verdict that it violated California’s unfair competition law, ruled the appeals court.
Following the decision, Apple said in a statement that “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.”
The company also thanked the court for “granting this stay while the appeals process continues,” and said it is “constantly evolving the App Store to help create an even better experience for our users and the incredibly talented community of iOS developers.”
Apple continues to stare down the barrel of antitrust lawsuits and probes across the globe, with many governments and regulators seeking to loosen Cupertino’s iron grip on the App Store and iOS app distribution.
