After a federal judge ruled that the tech giant violated an antitrust order related to the restrictions on the App Store, Apple faced the possibility of criminal charges and picked out CEO Tim Cook, who allegedly refused to advise an agent to comply with the award.
In Wednesday's explosive decision, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote that Cook “chosen poorly” when directed a charge that allegedly violated a court order in relation to Apple's long-term dispute with Epic Games.
The “Fortnite” maker has denounced Apple for non-competitive behaviour as Apple charged strong developer fees, and has brought a 2021 injunction requesting Apple to provide users with alternative ways to pay for services and subscriptions outside the app store.
“Internally, Philip Schiller insisted that Apple comply with the injunction,” Rogers wrote in the ruling, referring to Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
“However, Tim Cook ignored Schiller and instead allowed Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri and his finance team to convince him otherwise,” the judge wrote in a sharply expressed opinion.
“Cook's choice is insufficient.”
Rogers also accused Apple's top executive Alex Roman of “completely lying” in his famous legal battle with the epic game over controversial App Store fees.
“To hide the truth… Roman… lied under the oath.” Rogers wrotesaid Apple “adopted lies and misrepresentations in this court.”
In an extraordinary ruling, Rogers, appointed to the federal bench by Barack Obama, made it clear that this was not a case of misunderstanding or negligence.
“More than meeting clear and persuasive standards to find violations,” Rogers ruled that he would refer the matter to a U.S. lawyer's office to consider criminal cont charges against Apple and related individuals.
“This is an injunction, not negotiation. If the party knowingly ignores the court's order, there's nothing to do,” Rogers wrote.
In response, Apple issued a statement saying, “We strongly oppose the decision. We will comply with the court's orders and appeal.”
Roman did not respond to requests for comment.
The 2021 injunction at the heart of Apple-Epic Games Legal Battle has prevented Tech Behemoth from including “buttons, external links, or other actions” in its apps that direct users other than Apple's in-app payment system to alternative purchase methods.
The company was also barred from preventing developers from communicating with customers “through contacts voluntarily obtained from customers through in-app account registration.”
Roman, who holds the title of Vice President of Financial Affairs at Apple, has been accused by a judge of misleading the court in connection with a 27% controversial committee on purchases made outside the App Store.
According to court documents, Roman falsely testified that Apple has not evaluated the costs that developers face when using alternative payment methods for link-out purchases.
However, the judge found that Apple was actually considering these external costs, deliberately setting its committee high enough to exceed them, undermining the credibility of Roman claims.
Roman also told the court that Apple did not decide what fees it would charge for these purchases until January 16, 2024.
The judge rejected the statement as another false statement. This cites internal business records showing that Apple has already decided on key elements of its plan, including a 27% committee in July 2023.
The Apple-EPIC dispute focuses on an epic game that challenges Apple's control over Apple's App Store and in-app payment system, accusing the tech giant of anti-competitive action after Apple removed the popular game “Fortnite” for bypassing a 30% fee.
While Apple largely won in the case of the broader antitrust, Epic has secured a major concession on this particular point aimed at suppressing Apple's control over iOS digital commerce.
In effect, Rogers ordered Apple to halt the commission's collection of purchases made via external links within the app.
She also directed the company to cover legal costs related to the Epic Games light emptying issue.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has welcomed the verdict as a groundbreaking moment for app developers.
“It's a huge win for developers,” he said on a conference call. “This will make Apple compete, which is something we've always wanted.”
Additional Reports by Thomas Barabie
