{"id":149,"date":"2025-05-01T15:42:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/?p=149"},"modified":"2025-05-02T22:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T22:04:06","slug":"apple-violated-app-store-reform-order-judge-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/apple-violated-app-store-reform-order-judge-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple violated App Store reform order, judge rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Apple violated a 2021 court order<\/a> requiring the iPhone maker to open up its App Store to competition, referring the company and a top executive for potential criminal contempt proceedings.<\/p>\n

In a scathing 80-page opinion<\/a>, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers slammed Apple for thwarting her order, saying the company \u201ccontinued its anticompetitive conduct solely to maintain its revenue stream.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRemarkably, Apple believed that this Court would not see through its obvious cover-up,\u201d Gonzalez Rogers wrote. <\/p>\n

In the case against Fortnite maker Epic Games, the court largely ruled in Apple\u2019s favor in 2021, finding it was not an \u201cillegal monopolist\u201d but had engaged in anticompetitive behavior. <\/p>\n

The court determined that the 30 percent commission Apple charged on in-app purchases, as well as rules blocking developers from directing users to alternative payment methods to avoid such charges, were anticompetitive. <\/p>\n

In her injunction, Gonzalez Rogers barred Apple from preventing developers from communicating with users about other payment options. <\/p>\n

Apple has since added a 27 percent fee on off-app purchases and new restrictions on how developers can craft external links directing users to payment systems outside the in-app system. It also instituted so-called \u201cscare screens\u201d warning users about external links. <\/p>\n

Gonzalez Rogers reprimanded Apple on Wednesday, suggesting the iPhone maker \u201cwillfully chose not to comply\u201d with her order. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat it thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAs always, the coverup made it worse. For this Court, there is no second bite at the apple.\u201d <\/p>\n

The judge also suggested that the company\u2019s vice president of finance, Alex Roman, lied under oath, referring the issue to the local district attorney to determine whether to bring criminal contempt charges against Apple and Roman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an injunction, not a negotiation,\u201d Gonzalez Rogers added. \u201cThere are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the essence. The Court will not tolerate further delays. As previously ordered, Apple will not impede competition.\u201d <\/p>\n

Epic Games initially sued Apple in 2020 after it was booted from the App Store for attempting to circumvent the company\u2019s in-app purchase fees. <\/p>\n

The Fortnite maker\u2019s CEO, Tim Sweeney, touted the ruling Wednesday night, calling it \u201cGame over for the Apple Tax.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cApple\u2019s 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,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cUnlawful here, unlawful there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Apple violated a 2021 court order requiring the iPhone maker to open up its App Store to competition, referring the company and a top executive for potential criminal contempt proceedings. In a scathing 80-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Yvonne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yesn2.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}