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Apple has been accused of flouting a court injunction amid a wide-ranging set of new legal findings that could change how the App Store works.
It is just the latest in an ongoing fight between the iPhone maker and Fortnite maker Epic Games, which argues that Apple has too much control over its App Store.
The two have been in legal proceedings for years, with Epic arguing that Apple should be forced to allow developers to process their own payments within apps, and criticising the cut that Apple is able to take from those payments, for instance. Apple has argued that it is an important security restriction to keep users safe.
Now a US federal judge has said the company had violated a previous injunction that had intended to curb some of that control over the App Store.
Apple says that it does not agree with the finding but will comply while it pursues yet more legal proceedings.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously ordered Apple to stop prohibiting app developers from linking customers to their own purchasing mechanisms, and not require them to go through Apple’s payment systems.
But in a judgment on Wednesday in the US, she said she was referring the matter to a district attorney in California to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate, accusing the tech giant of effectively ignoring the initial ruling.
The judge found Apple violated a 2021 injunction which, she wrote, sought to “restrain and prohibit the iPhone maker’s anticompetitive conduct” and pricing.
“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” she wrote in Wednesday’s ruling, which held Apple in contempt.
The judge ordered that Apple “no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases”.
She also accused Apple’s vice-president of finance Alex Roman of “outright” lying under oath.
The case links back to a lawsuit filed by Epic Games in 2020, which accused Apple of building an illegal monopoly via its App Store by forcing app developers to use Apple’s own payment system, and taking up to 30% commission on transactions made through that system, making billions of dollars in the process.
The monopoly claims were rejected, but Apple was ordered to lower the barriers around payments, and allow developers to show consumers links to alternative ways of making purchases.
In a post on X, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney welcomed the ruling, and offered Apple a “peace” deal on the subject.
“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 worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic,” he said.
“Apple’s 15-30% junk fees are now just as dead here in the United States of America as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there,” Mr Sweeney added.
Additional reporting by agencies
English (US) ·