United States of America: Judgement and permanent injunction released which force Apple to allow third-party payment options

On 10 September 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California reached its verdict in the matter Epic Games vs. Apple. It ruled that Epic Games has to pay damages for breach of contract since it violated the AppStore's terms and conditions by offering an alternative payment method. As a consequence, Epic Games has to pay over $3.5 million, which represents 30% of the revenue achieved through its alternative payment method. On the other hand, a permanent injunction ruled that Apple has to allow third-party payment methods from December 9th onwards. Significantly, a monopoly with market dominance could not be proven, as the market in question is only the market of digital gaming transactions, which goes against what both parties argued. The court did however rule that Apple violated California competition law with several counts of anti-competitive conduct. An appeal of the decision is possible.