Apple Inc. violated an order of the court forcing him to open the App Store to external payment options and must cease to charge commissions on purchases outside of his software market, said a federal judge in a stock -up decision which referred the company to prosecutors for a possible criminal investigation.
US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ranked on Wednesday with Wednesday withFortniteMaker Epic Games Inc. for its allegation according to which the iPhone manufacturer did not comply with a prescription which it made in 2021 after finding the company engaged in anti -competitive conduct in violation of the Californian law.
Gonzalez Rogers also referred the case to federal prosecutors to investigate the question of whether Apple committed criminal outrage for the court for having flouted its decision in 2021.
The judge noted that Apple had “voluntarily” violated his injunction.
“He did it with the express intention to create new anti-competitive barriers which, by design and indeed, would maintain a precious source of income; a source of income previously deemed anti-competitive,” she wrote in her decision. “That he thought that this court would tolerate such insubordination was a raw calculation error.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, said in an article on social networks that the company would return Fortnite At the American App Store next week.
After a trial in 2021, Gonzalez Rogers took largely on the side of Apple, saying that his policies in the App Store did not violate the antitrust law. However, it forced the company to let the developers go around its payment tool in the application to avoid a commission of up to 30%. The decision was finally confirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
Apple allowed developers to point users to the web to make transactions for integrated purchases, but forced developers to pay the company a reduction of 27% of all the income they have generated.
During several weeks of hearings in February and last year, Gonzalez Rogers seemed skeptical about Apple's conformity and wondered if it was inappropriate information by affirming the lawyer-client confidentiality.
In the decision on Wednesday, the judge said that Apple had tried to cover his non-compliance with his order in 2021.
“After two series of proof audiences, the truth has emerged,” wrote Gonzalez Rogers. “Apple, although it has known its obligations under it, thwarted the objectives of the injunction and pursued its anti-competitive conduct only to maintain its source of income.”
The judge said that Alex Roman, Vice-President of Apple Finance, had lied to the witnesses' stand.
The case is Epic Games Inc. c. Apple Inc., 20-CV-05640, US District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
