A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Apple should relax its handle in its app store and stop the supply collection for certain applications, covering a five -year antitrust case that brought the epic games aimed at changing the power that apple.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US Regional Court for the northern California region demanded Apple to prevent a previous decision in the lawsuit and said the company had to be stopped by further violating the court. He criticized Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive and accused other company executives of lies.
In its previous decision, Judge Gonzales Rogers ordered Apple to allow applications to provide users external links to pay immediate services for services. Applications could then avoid supplying 30 percent that Apple charges to its applications store and may charge less for services.
Instead, Judge Gonzalez Rogers said on Wednesday, Apple has created a new system that forced external sales applications to pay a 27 % supply to the company. Apple also created emerging screens that discouraged customers to pay elsewhere, telling them that payments outside the App Store may not be safe.
“Apple has tried to maintain a flow of revenue worth billions in a direct representation of this court order,” writes Judge Gonzalez Rogers.
In response, he said that Apple could no longer get supplies from sales outside the app store. It also restricts the company from the drafting of rules that would prevent developers from creating buttons or links to pay outside the store and said they could not create messages to discourage users to shop. In addition, Judge Gonzalez Rogers asked the US lawyer over the northern California to investigate the company for criminal contempt.
The decision – a major victory for Epic and a defeat of Apple – has the ability to change the application economy by increasing the money raised by developers while reducing the remuneration flowing to Apple. This hits one of Apple’s largest businesses, with its application store being the most important destination for people to download mobile games, productivity tools and other programs.
“There will be a lot of room for developers to get better offers and for consumers to get better agreements,” said Tim Sweeney, Epic’s chief executive. “This is a wonderful, wonderful day for everyone.”
Apple could appeal to the decision. The company did not respond to requests for comments. Its shares sank by 1.5 % after hours after time.
Epic, the manufacturer of the Fortnite game, brought the lawsuit against Apple in 2020. In the suit, EPIC accused Apple of forcing Applications Manufacturers to use his / her payment system in exchange for access to the App Store, which is the only way to distribute applications to iPhones. The rules allowed Apple to collect as much as 30 percent commission for many transactions.
The App Store is a large part of the $ 100 billion annual revenue from Apple.
In a decision two years later, Judge Gonzalez Rogers stopped saying that Apple had a monopoly on the mobile game market, as Epic had argued. This meant that Apple avoided the worst possible outcome of the case. But he found that the company had violated California’s laws against unfair competition, preventing developers from offering users alternative ways to pay for applications.
Last year, Epic complained to the court that Apple did not comply with the ruling because it had created a new set of fees and rules for developers. The judge ordered Apple to provide the documents explaining how she had come up with her new system.
Apple documents showed that it tried to discourage alternative payments and maintain a 30 %traditional commission as possible. At a meeting in July 2023, Phil Schiller, who oversees the app store, argued that Apple is not commissioning, but Luca Maestri, head of Apple’s finances, supported a 27 %fee. Mr Cook fell with Mr Maestri, according to documents.
Mr Cook also asked that when people clicked on links to pay for applications outside the app store, a “scare” display appears that Apple’s privacy and security standards do not apply to purchases on the web. “
“Apple knew exactly what she was doing and at every turn she chose the most antithetical choice,” said Judge Gonzalez Rogers.
He said Apple executives had “overcome the lies under oath” and added, “Cook chose badly.”
