Apple (AAPL.O) has lodged an appeal against a U.S. judge’s ruling that mandated the tech giant to immediately open its App Store to greater competition. The appeal, filed on Monday, challenges the April 30 decision by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who found Apple in contempt of an earlier 2020 antitrust ruling brought by Epic Games.
In the ruling, Gonzalez Rogers determined that Apple had willfully failed to comply with a 2021 injunction intended to allow developers to guide consumers toward potentially cheaper payment options outside of Apple’s system. The judge referred Apple and one of its executives for a possible criminal contempt investigation, accusing the company of attempting to maintain a revenue stream worth billions in direct defiance of the court’s injunction.
The legal battle stems from Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple, which sought to challenge the tech giant’s control over transactions in apps using its iOS operating system and its distribution policies. The court had previously ordered Apple to stop several practices, including imposing a new 27% fee on app developers for transactions that take place outside the App Store. Apple was also prohibited from using “scare screens” to discourage consumers from using third-party payment systems.
Apple’s legal team has announced its intent to challenge the ruling at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but neither Apple nor Epic Games have provided immediate comments on the case.
Source: Swifteradio.com
