Today's ruling finds that Apple knowingly violated a 2021 injunction, and says that one Apple exec "outright lied under oath."
Epic Games has been fighting Apple over iOS payment processing for years now with some success in Europe, and not as much in the US. The Fortnite developer is still far from getting everything it originally demanded, but it just won a huge victory as a US court order has slammed Apple for willfully disregarding a 2021 injunction, and even refers one Apple exec’s behavior to criminal prosecutors.
When Epic started its war with Apple, it wanted to use its own payment processing system in Fortnite on iOS, bypassing Apple’s 30% fee. Epic mostly lost that battle in US courts, but won on one point: The court told Apple that it couldn’t stop iOS app developers from directing users to out-of-app websites that use their own payment processors.
Since then, Sweeney has been complaining that Apple has not truly complied with the court’s will, and after reviewing documents related to Apple’s supposed compliance, the court agrees with Sweeney in no unclear terms.
“Apple’s response to the Injunction strains credulity,” reads today’s ruling from judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. “After two sets of evidentiary hearings, the truth emerged. Apple, despite knowing its obligations thereunder, thwarted the Injunction’s goals, and continued its anticompetitive conduct solely to maintain its revenue stream.”
In response to the 2021 injunction forcing it to allow developers to link to out-of-app payment systems, Apple introduced a 27% commission on those out-of-app payments. Apple also added “scare” screens that seemed to warn users away from out-of-app purchases, something Sweeney has also complained about with regard to its “malicious compliance” with a related European law.
Epic did not think any of that seemed very compliant, and an evidentiary hearing took place in 2024 during which Apple was asked to justify its actions. The court was concerned that Apple was not being entirely truthful during that hearing, and ordered it to produce documents related to its injunction compliance planning. Apple stalled, but a second hearing took place earlier this year during which that evidence was revealed to the court—and the court did not like what it saw.
“Remarkably, Apple believed that this Court would not see through its obvious cover-up” in 2024’s hearing, the judge wrote. The conclusion
“In the end, Apple sought to maintain a revenue stream worth billions in direct defiance of this Court’s Injunction.”
According to Judge Rogers, Apple VP of Finance Alex Roman “outright lied under oath,” a matter she has referred to the regional US attorneys office “to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate.”
Roman’s testimony was “replete with misdirection and outright lies,” reads today’s order. For instance, Roman testified that Apple had not considered that, when combined with a developer’s own payment processing fees, the new 27% commission for out-of-app purchases was not a better option for developers than the 30% in-app fee. Documents revealed to the court showed that Apple was well aware of this, however.
And the fee itself was a violation of the injunction in the first place. Following today’s ruling, Apple will have no more leeway, give or take a possible appeal and temporary stay. There will be no more fees for out-of-app iOS purchases, not just for Epic, but for any developer.
“This is an injunction, not a negotiation,” reads the order. “There 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. The Court enjoins Apple from implementing its new anticompetitive acts to avoid compliance with the Injunction. Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases.”
So Sweeney still hasn’t gotten what he originally wanted—the ability to include his own payment processor directly in the app—but that hasn’t been on the table in the US since that original 2021 ruling. After this victory, he says he’s ready for peace.
“We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week,” Sweeney tweeted today. “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.”
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.
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