US judge refers Apple for possible criminal contempt probe
1 May 2025, 10:04
The iPhone maker has been accused by a judge of wilfully violating a court injunction in a competition case with the maker of Fortnite.
A US federal judge has said Apple wilfully violated an injunction in a competition case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games.
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.
