Court finds that Apple lied in Epic Games trial, raising possibility of contempt of court



In a lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Apple for fair competition, Apple was ordered to remove the fees it charges app developers. In addition, Apple was found to have lied in court, raising the possibility that it could be held in contempt of court.

gov.uscourts.cand.364265.1508.0_2.pdf
(PDF file)

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.364265/gov.uscourts.cand.364265.1508.0_2.pdf

Court finds Apple, executive lied under oath in Epic Games trial
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/30/court-finds-apple-executive-lied-under-oath.html

Epic Games claims victory as Apple sanctioned for defending court order over App Store rules - 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2025/04/30/epic-games-claims-victory-as-apple-sanctioned-for-defying-court-order-over-app-store-rules/

A judge just blew up Apple's control of the App Store | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/659246/apple-epic-app-store-judge-ruling-control

This case began when Epic Games created its own payment method to avoid the fees that Apple imposes on in-app payments. When Epic Games adopted this method, Apple, which did not allow payments outside the App Store, removed Epic Games' game 'Fortnite' from the App Store, leading to Epic Games suing Apple in 2020.

In the original trial, Apple won most of the charges, but Epic Games won some concessions, such as getting Apple to allow Epic Games to display links to external payment systems within the app. However, while Apple allowed the links to be displayed, it demanded that Epic Games pay a 27% fee for payments outside the App Store, which Epic Games criticized as 'completely ignoring the order.'



As the appeals process continued, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the case, issued an 80-page order on April 30, 2025, finding that Apple had willfully violated the order issued in 2021.

Judge Rogers took issue with Apple's 27% fee on external payments, saying the company 'intended not to charge any fees at all.'

In addition, Judge Rogers referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office for possible contempt of court due to discrepancies between the documents Apple submitted and the affidavit of Apple's Vice President of Finance, Alex Roman. Judge Rogers criticized, 'Alex Roman lied blatantly under oath in order to hide the truth.'

Judge Rogers also pointed out that Apple intentionally withheld internal meeting minutes and did not share what should have been shared. He said that the documents that Apple had previously submitted as meeting minutes were created for the litigation. According to the original documents, Apple Fellow Philip Schiller strongly wanted to follow the order, but CEO Tim Cook ignored his wishes. Judge Rogers wrote that 'Cook's choice was wrong.'



Judge Rogers ruled in favor of Epic Games and prohibited Apple from:

- Imposing fees on external payments
Restricting the style, format, or placement of external payment links
- Add restrictions on the placement of notifications and buttons that make external payments easier to understand
Warn users when they access external payment links

In addition, Judge Rogers also ordered Apple to pay Epic Games' attorneys' fees. 'This is an injunction, not a negotiation. When a party willfully disregards a court's orders, there is no redeeming them,' Judge Rogers wrote.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney declared victory, saying, 'This is a huge win for developers, and means that all developers can offer their own payment services alongside Apple's. The Apple tax is over. We'll return Fortnite to the US App Store next week. We've also offered a peace offer to return Fortnite to App Stores around the world if Apple expands its fee exemption framework worldwide, and to drop current and future litigation related to this issue.'




Apple has not released a statement on the matter.

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