On Monday, Apple filed an appeal to contest a recent ruling by a US judge that mandated the company to open its App Store to increased competition.
The tech giant submitted a court notice indicating that it intends to seek a review from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, located in San Francisco. This appeal follows a decision made on April 30, which found Apple in contempt of an earlier court order stemming from a 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple intentionally failed to comply with a 2021 injunction aimed at facilitating developers’ ability to direct consumers toward potentially cheaper payment alternatives beyond Apple’s ecosystem.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers also directed federal prosecutors to consider a criminal contempt investigation against Apple and one of its executives. She declined to stay her ruling, accusing Apple of deliberately misleading the court and employing tactics intended to delay compliance.
“Apple attempted to uphold a multi-billion dollar revenue stream in outright defiance of this court’s injunction,” the judge stated.
Apple has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the court’s order.
Requests for comments from both Apple and Epic Games have gone unanswered.
The appeal notice from Apple outlined its intended legal arguments.
Epic Games, the developer of the popular online game Fortnite, has aimed through this lawsuit to reduce Apple’s control over transaction processes within apps that utilize its iOS operating system and the distribution of apps to users.
In her ruling, Gonzalez Rogers instructed Apple to discontinue various practices that were intended to evade her previous injunction, including a newly implemented 27 percent fee on app developers when users make purchases outside the App Store.
The judge also prohibited Apple from employing “scare screens” that discourage consumers from opting for third-party payment methods.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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