Apple Appeals After Judge Finds Company Disobeyed Ruling

Apple appealed after a judge found the tech giant violated a court order.

The appeal came days after U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple disobeyed a ruling in a case involving Fortnite maker Epic Games and the Apple App Store, Seeking Alpha reported Monday (May 5). The ruling required Apple to permit greater competition for app downloads and payment methods in the App Store.

“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” Rogers said Wednesday (April 30), per the report. “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order.”

Rogers also accused Apple Vice President of Finance Alex Roman of lying under oath about the timing of Apple’s decisions on its new commission policy.

“Neither Apple nor its counsel corrected the now obvious lies,” she said, adding that the company had “adopted the lies and misrepresentations to this court.”

Rogers handled the initial case, filed by Epic in 2020. Rogers had mostly ruled in Apple’s favor but still required the company to allow apps to offer external payment options.

Apple began taking a 27% commission on these purchases and added a screen that could have scared some users amid security risks. Rogers ordered Apple to do away with the commission and the screen.

In the wake of Rogers’ ruling, Apple said it would comply but disagreed and would appeal.

The ruling’s financial impact is difficult to quantify, as it’s not yet clear whether Epic and other companies (such as Spotify) will be able to convince Apple customers to transact with them directly, PYMNTS wrote last week. While Apple may be appealing, “the status quo — the commission-based model that has been in place — is bumping up against uncertainty.”

Bank of America said if the case did not go Apple’s way, it could affect “billions” of dollars of high-margin revenue, the Seeking Alpha report said.

Apple is also facing regulatory battles in Europe tied to the App Store, as well as an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice.