Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple violated her own 2021 ruling on the lawsuit Epic Games filed against Apple. As a result, Apple has been ordered to immediately stop collecting commissions on purchases not made through the App Store. While Gonzalez Rogers previously ruled that Apple did not have a monopoly on the App Store, she also mandated that the company must allow developers to direct users to other payment systems to bypass the 30 percent commission fee.
In a legal filing by Epic Games, it was alleged that Apple was not complying with the ruling, as it was still taking a 27 percent cut for purchases made outside the App Store and displaying pop-up screens warning users about the security risks of paying outside the store. The iOS Small Business Program members were subject to a smaller 12 percent commission. However, the judge clarified in her new ruling that Apple should not be collecting any fees at all, stating that Apple was defying the court’s injunction to maintain a revenue stream worth billions.
Apart from prohibiting Apple from collecting fees for external purchases, Gonzalez Rogers also prohibited the company from displaying «scare screens» to discourage users from using third-party payment systems and from creating rules that would prevent developers from presenting external payment options. Apple has stated that it will appeal the decision but will comply with the court’s orders.
In her ruling, Rogers noted that documents submitted by Apple showed conflicting viewpoints within the company regarding collecting fees on web links. The former Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri convinced Tim Cook to continue collecting fees, despite App Store lead Phil Schiller advocating against it. Cook also instructed revisions to the scare screens for web links to clarify that Apple’s privacy and security standards do not apply to web purchases. Gonzalez Rogers criticized Apple for choosing the most anticompetitive options at every turn and accused the company’s Vice-President of Finance, Alex Roman, of lying under oath to conceal the truth.
In a tweet, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced the return of Fortnite to the US iOS App Store and proposed a peace agreement with Apple. Sweeney stated that if Apple extends the court’s commission-free, tax-free payment framework worldwide, Fortnite will be returned to the App Store globally and all current and future litigation on the matter will be dropped.
The article originally appeared on Engadget, with all links and structural elements preserved as they were in the original.
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