Apple Exec Found to Have Lied During Epic Games Trial

The Epic Games v. Apple court suit came to a head this week. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple Vice President of Finance Alex Roman “outright lied” to the court during the Epic Games case.

This week, Rogers ruled that Apple can no longer collect fees on purchases made outside apps, as well as restrict how developers can provide purchase options outside the app. As part of this, it was determined that Apple willfully violated a 2021 injunction, as reported by CNBC.

“Neither Apple, nor its counsel, corrected the, now obvious, lies,” Rogers said in court filings. Judge Rogers continued to state that she considered Apple has “adopted the lies and misrepresentations to this Court.” It’s yet determined whether criminal contempt proceedings will be pursued by U.S. attorneys.

Originally, the Epic Games v. Apple court case was decided in 2021, where Apple won many of the counts throughout the trial. However, Epic Games did win a few concessions. The trial was also appealed in 2023. As part of the concessions, Rogers ordered Apple to make changes to the App Store, allowing developers to link their websites inside of iOS apps and games. This would effectively allow users to make purchases outside of the App Store.

Rogers accuses Apple of willfully attempting to violate her ruling. It’s said that as part of her original ruling, the expectation would be that Apple would not charge its commission on purchases made on off-app purchases. However, in 2024, Apple introduced a 27 percent commission on those purchases, a minor dip from the standard 30 percent commission Apple receives from in-app purchases. Rogers argues that these policies fall under anti-competition.

Rogers also believes that Apple presented evidence to the court that was “tailor-made for litigation” regarding internal deliberations rather than evidence that reflected the company’s actual internal discussions.

Apple is also being accused of withholding documentation surrounding a June 2023 meeting that included CEO Tim Cook. The meeting is suggested to have discussed the ways the company would comply with the 2021 court order. This meeting was reportedly hidden until this year. Rogers believes the company “a desire to conceal Apple’s real decision-making process, particularly where those decisions involved senior Apple executives.”

It’s been found that Apple must immediately stop generating commission made on off-app purchases. Apple is also being ordered to pay Epic Games’ attorney fees regarding this issue. “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order,” Rogers wrote in the court filings.

As a result of this court order, Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney announced that Fortnite will be returning to iOS next week.