Apple referred for possible criminal contempt investigation

A US territory justice has recovered Apple wilfully violated her injunction successful a lawsuit brought by Epic Games - and that a apical Apple enforcement "outright lied" nether oath.

The injunction was expected to artifact Apple from anti-competitive behaviour and pricing, opening the App Store up to extracurricular outgo options.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she was referring the substance to the US Attorney for Northern District of California to analyse whether a transgression contempt proceeding is appropriate.

In response, an Apple spokesperson said: "We powerfully disagree with the decision. We volition comply with the court's bid and we volition appeal."

Wednesday's judgement refers to a 2021 lawsuit brought by Epic Games, the shaper of Fortnite, 1 of the world's astir fashionable games, which argued that third-party outgo options should beryllium disposable to customers.

It challenged the up-to-30% chopped Apple takes from purchases - and argued that the App Store was monopolistic.

• Apple dealt large stroke successful Epic Games trial

In her 2021 judgement, Judge Gonzalez Rogers stated that Apple could nary longer prohibit developers linking to their ain purchasing mechanisms.

As good arsenic crippled purchasing, different illustration of however this would enactment is simply a movie-streaming work being capable to archer customers to subscribe via its ain website, without utilizing Apple's in-app purchasing mechanism.

In a contempt bid issued Wednesday, Judge Gonzalez Rogers recovered that Apple nevertheless continued to interfere with contention with attempts that the tribunal stated "will not beryllium tolerated".

Judge Gonzalez Rogers added that interior institution documents she reviewed showed Apple deliberately violated the injunction.

The documents uncover "that Apple knew precisely what it was doing and astatine each crook chose the astir anticompetitive option", she wrote.

She said CEO Tim Cook ignored enforcement Phillip Schiller's urging to person Apple comply with the injunction and allowed CFO Luca Maestri to person him not to.

"Cook chose poorly," she wrote.

She besides said Apple's vice-president of concern Alex Roman "outright lied nether oath".

The justice wrote that 1 illustration of Apple's attempts to evade the injunction included a determination to complaint a 27% committee connected off-app purchases, erstwhile it had antecedently charged nothing.

The institution besides imposed caller barriers and requirements to discourage customers from utilizing competing purchasing platforms, she said.

In a station connected X, Epic Games laminitis and CEO Tim Sweeney said his institution would instrumentality Fortnite to the US iOS App Store adjacent week and offered an olive subdivision to his long-time rival.

"Epic puts distant a bid proposal: if Apple extends the court's friction-free, Apple-tax-free model worldwide, we'll instrumentality 'Fortnite' to the App Store worldwide and driblet existent and aboriginal litigation connected the topic," Sweeney wrote.

In different post, helium wrote: "NO FEES connected web transactions. Game implicit for the Apple Tax. Apple's 15-30% junk fees are present conscionable arsenic dormant present successful the United States of America arsenic they are successful Europe nether the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there."