Judge rules Apple ‘willfully’ violated antitrust order
A federal judge has ruled that Apple “willfully” violated a previous antitrust order concerning its app Store restrictions, accusing an executive of lying to the court. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that Apple failed to comply with her injunction requiring the company to allow alternative payment methods outside of its App Store, which Epic Games alleged enforced a monopoly. The judge condemned Apple’s actions as an attempt to create new anticompetitive barriers to maintain its revenue stream, previously deemed anticompetitive. She criticized the company for its insubordination and stated that the case may warrant criminal contempt charges. Apple plans to appeal the ruling while continuing to assert compliance. This ruling follows a recent European Commission fine of $571 million against Apple for similar monopolistic practices.
Judge rules Apple ‘willfully’ violated antitrust order on App store restrictions
A federal judge ruled Apple “willfully” violated a prior order alleging its App Store’s restrictions broke antitrust laws and accused one company executive of lying to the court.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a scathing ruling against Apple on Wednesday. Gonzalez Rogers said it did not comply with her previous ruling calling for the company to provide alternative methods to pay for subscriptions and services outside its App Store. The lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games stems from allegations from the latter that the technology giant had a monopoly with its App Store and the restrictions it places on developers to sell subscriptions and services through apps.
“Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court’s Injunction. It did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive,” Gonzalez Rogers said in the ruling.
“That it thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation. As always, the cover-up made it worse. For this court, there is no second bite at the apple,” she added.
Rogers also said Apple’s finance president, Alex Roman, “outright lied under oath” and slammed company executives for not complying with the injunction. She referred the matter to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California to determine whether criminal contempt charges should be pursued.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Apple for comment. A spokesperson for the company told the Wall Street Journal it would comply with the order, but would appeal it.
The judge’s ruling in federal district court came a week after the European Commission fined Apple and Meta millions of dollars for similar claims of monopolistic activity with the App Store.
EUROPEAN UNION WATCHDOGS FINE META, APPLE FOR ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS
Apple was fined $571 million for allegedly breaking the European Commission’s Digital Market Act by not allowing developers to market cheaper options for users outside of the App Store.
Apple told the Washington Examiner last week it would appeal the fine and accused the commission of “unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free.”
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