Apple hits back at US judge's 'extraordinary' contempt order

Apple is asking an appeals tribunal to intermission a US territory judge's caller ruling successful a lawsuit which could find the aboriginal of its highly lucrative App Store.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers recovered past week the tech elephantine wilfully violated an bid she had antecedently made successful a lawsuit filed by Fortnite-maker Epic Games.

That bid - handed down successful 2021 - demanded Apple refrain from anti-competitive behaviour and pricing and let extracurricular outgo options successful the App Store.

Last week she determined Apple was flouting that request - a uncovering Apple has present called "extraordinary."

The iPhone shaper has alleged successful a tribunal filing that her bid unlawfully prevents the institution from controlling "core aspects of its concern operations."

"A national tribunal cannot unit Apple to permanently springiness distant escaped entree to its products and services, including intelligence property," the company's lawyers wrote.

Both of Judge Gonzalez Rogers' judgements stem from an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games.

In 2020, Epic accused the iPhone-maker of possessing an amerciable monopoly with its App Store, which collected commissions of betwixt 15% and 30% connected in-app purchases.

The justice rejected Epic's monopoly claims, but recovered Apple was stopping developers from giving users alternate outgo options successful usurpation of California contention rules.

She ordered Apple to marque changes that would assistance developers steer customers to cheaper outgo options extracurricular of the Apple ecosystem.

Last year, Epic accused Apple of failing to comply by creating a caller acceptable of fees for developers instead.

In a contempt bid past week, Judge Gonzalez Rogers recovered that Apple continued to interfere with competition, saying that interior institution documents showed Apple deliberately violated her 2021 injunction.

On Wednesday, Apple requested an appeals tribunal instrumentality action, including by lifting a prohibition that stops it from charging developers fees connected purchases made extracurricular the App Store.

The institution wrote that specified restrictions "will outgo Apple important sums annually" and are based connected behaviour that has not been recovered unlawful.

"Rather, they were imposed to punish Apple for purported non-compliance with an earlier state-law Injunction that is itself invalid," Apple wrote.

In response, Epic Games said Judge Gonzalez Rogers' contempt bid past week was already benefitting consumers.

"Apple has faced a surge of genuine contention arsenic developers person updated their apps with amended outgo methods, amended deals, and amended user choice," Epic wrote successful a station connected the societal media level X.

The institution criticized Apple's question arsenic "a past ditch effort to artifact contention and extract monolithic junk fees astatine the disbursal of consumers and developers."

Epic says it is connected way with plans to bring Fortnite backmost to iPhones and iPads.

Apple removed Fortnite from its App Store successful 2020 aft Epic unveiled an in-app outgo strategy into the game.

The determination led to the existent tribunal conflict betwixt the 2 companies.

Apple did not straight addresses Judge Gonzalez Rogers' stunning rebuke of institution executives successful its tribunal filing.

In her astir caller order, she said CEO Tim Cook ignored enforcement Phillip Schiller's urging to person Apple comply with her injunction, and allowed then-Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri to person him not to.

"Cook chose poorly," she wrote.

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

Judge Gonzalez Rogers said she would notation the substance to the US Attorney for Northern District of California to analyse if a transgression contempt proceeding against Apple is appropriate.

Apple said past week it would comply with the court's bid portion it appeals.