A court has ruled that Apple is prohibited from charging fees on transactions conducted outside of the App Store in the United States

An injunction from a US court has been in favor of Epic Games in its legal dispute with Apple, ruling that Apple cannot charge fees on transactions made outside of its App Store.

Furthermore, Apple is prohibited from preventing developers from directing US users toward other payment methods, such as web-based payments, bypassing Apple's ecosystem.

The court’s decision takes effect immediately, enabling Fortnite's return to the US App Store next week as noted by Epic's Tim Sweeney on Twitter.

The court document states, "The Court enjoins Apple from implementing its new anticompetitive acts to avoid compliance with the Injunction," and that Apple will no longer be able to obstruct developers from reaching out to users nor impose fresh fees on off-store purchases.

The complete order from the Northern District of California Court also refers Apple and its finance vice president, Alex Roman, to the local US attorney for investigation into criminal contempt charges. The Verge indicates that Apple intends to challenge the order.

The document claims Roman "outright lied under oath."

The initial injunction followed a 2021 trial between Epic and Apple, where a court decision labeled Apple's 30% fee as anti-competitive and required them to allow developers to guide users to alternative payment avenues.

Apple had later introduced a 27% fee on transactions made outside the app.

The new ruling highlights Apple’s tactics, like using 'scare screens', aimed at discouraging users from moving out of its network for payments.

The document states, "Apple's goal: to dissuade customer usage of alternative purchase opportunities and maintain its anti-competitive revenue stream," and critiques Apple’s efforts to protect a significant revenue flow against the Court's directive.

Although the decision currently only applies within the US, Sweeney proposed a global resolution on Twitter.

"Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court's friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we'll return Fortnite to the App Store globally and drop current and future litigation on the topic."

a month prior, Apple was fined $568 million by the EU for discouraging third-party payment methods.