Apple is facing potentially serious legal consequences in the United States, after a federal judge in California effectively threw the book at the iPhone maker.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in a court filing on Wednesday that Apple had wilfully violated a 2021 injunction that came out of the Epic Games court case that required the iPhone maker to allow greater competition for app downloads and payment methods in its lucrative App Store.
“For the reasons set forth herein, the Court FINDS Apple in willful violation of this Court’s 2021 Injunction which issued to restrain and prohibit Apple’s anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing,” said the Judge in the filing. “Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated.”
Criminal contempt?
“Apple’s response to the Injunction strains credulity. After two sets of evidentiary hearings, the truth emerged,” the filing states. “Apple, despite knowing its obligations thereunder, thwarted the Injunction’s goals, and continued its anticompetitive conduct solely to maintain its revenue stream. Remarkably, Apple believed that this Court would not see through its obvious cover-up (the 2024 evidentiary hearing).”
And the judge also wrote that Apple VP of Finance Alex Roman “outright lied” to the court, and she pointed to the actions of CEO Tim Cook.
“In stark contrast to Apple’s initial in-court testimony, contemporaneous business documents reveal that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option,” the judge stated in the filing.
Judge Rogers explained in the filing that it was expected under her 2021 ruling that those kind of off-app purchases would not have an Apple commission.
But she wrote that Apple introduced new policies in 2024 that collected a 27 percent commission from some purchases, only a slight discount from the 30 percent Apple previously collected from in-app purchases.
“To hide the truth, Vice-President of Finance, Alex Roman, outright lied under oath,” the judge wrote in her filing. “Internally, Phillip Schiller had advocated that Apple comply with the Injunction, but Tim Cook ignored Schiller and instead allowed Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri and his finance team to convince him otherwise. Cook chose poorly. The real evidence, detailed herein, more than meets the clear and convincing standard to find a violation.”
And Judge Rogers made clear the legal consequences to Apple, and referred the matter to state attorneys to investigate whether to pursue criminal contempt proceedings on both Roman and Apple.
“The Court refers the matter to the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate.” she wrote. “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order.”
“Time is of the essence. The Court will not tolerate further delays,” the judge wrote. “As previously ordered, Apple will not impede competition. The Court enjoins Apple from implementing its new anticompetitive acts to avoid compliance with the Injunction. Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases.”
Strongly disagree
Apple said it would comply with the court order, but will appeal.
“We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal,” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.
Meanwhile it came as no surprise that Epic Games welcomed the judge’s ruling and citing of Apple for potential criminal contempt.
“It’s a huge victory for developers, and it means all developers can offer their own payment service side-by-side with Apple’s payment service,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney was quoted by CNBC as saying on a call with reporters on Wednesday.
“This forces Apple to compete. This is what we wanted all along.”
NO FEES on web transactions. Game over for the Apple Tax.
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.
4 years 4 months 17 days. https://t.co/RucrsX7Z4A pic.twitter.com/3kSYnt5pcI
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 30, 2025
Epic Games lawsuit
This latest ruling from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is a stunning development in the Apple and Epic Games showdown.
It is also a notable reprimand of Apple’s conduct and behaviour in the case.
Epic Games had sued Apple in 2020, in an effort to force Apple to allow third-party payment systems, as well as to allow third-party app stores on its devices.
But Apple won the vast majority of counts in the original trial. That said however, Epic Games did win some concessions.
In September 2021 Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had ordered Apple to make major changes to its App Store – for the first time allowing developers to send their users to alternative payment systems.
The judge found in 2021 that Apple had violated California’s unfair competition law by barring developers from “steering” users to make digital purchases that bypass Apple’s in-app system, which Epic argued could save them money with lower commissions.
The judge at the time had therefore ordered that Apple to allow third-party developers to provide links and buttons that direct consumers to other ways to pay for digital content that they use in their apps, bypassing Apple’s own payment system and the Apple commission.