Judge says Apple and one of its executives lied during Epic Games trial in 2021
Remember Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers? She was the judge who made the ruling in Apple's 2021 legal battle against Epic Games that resulted from Apple's decision to boot Epic and its popular Fortnite game from the App Store. Apple said that Epic included a link inside the App Store version of Fortnite that would allow users to buy in-app items for the game directly from Epic. This prevented Apple from taking the 30% cut it would usually take from the cost of paid apps and in-app purchases.
Today, Judge Gonzales Rogers said in a court document that Apple "willfully" violated an injunction that she imposed on the company in 2021. She also wrote that Alex Roman, Apple's Vice President of Finance "outright lied to the court" about the timing related to a decision made by Apple to place a 27% fee on some App Store purchases. The judge turned over the matter to U.S. attorneys who will now investigate whether Roman and Apple will be charged with criminal contempt.
In a short but sweet response, Apple said, "We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court's order and we will appeal."
Wednesday, Rogers ruled that Apple was in contempt and accused the tech giant of trying to violate the rulings she made in the 2021 case. The judge explained that after her decision in 2021, purchases made off-app by iPhone users would be expected not to have any commission or cut for Apple. But all Apple did in 2024 was reduce the cut it would receive from 30% to 27%.
"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 anti-competitive option. To hide the truth, Vice-President of Finance, Alex Roman, outright lied under oath."
-Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
The judge also said that Apple never presented documentation about a meeting held in June 2023 that Apple CEO Tim Cook attended. Apple never told the court about this meeting until this year by hiding it from the court, according to Judge Gonzales Rogers. The judge ordered Apple to immediately stop charging commissions on purchases made for iPhone apps obtained through web links inside an app. As previously noted, that's exactly what Epic did with its Fortnite app that kicked off all of this drama.
"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. This forces Apple to compete. This is what we wanted all along."
-Epic CEO Tim Sweeney
Additionally, Apple will be responsible for Epic's attorney fees related to this issue. Judge Gonzalez Rogers had no sympathy for the company. "This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order," the judge wrote.
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