The Fortnite battle continues to roll on for Apple – Image Credit: Epic Games
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ruled that an Apple executive willfully lied to the court and attorneys did not correct those lies about Apple’s 27% commission fee in the company’s high-profile legal fight against Epic Games.
Apple has taken a battering in the continuing legal battle with Epic Games over App Store rules. While Apple was found to have violated a 2021 injunction to remove anti-steering barriers, one of its executives has also been called out for lying under oath.
During the trial, Apple VP of Finance Alex Roman “outright lied” to the court, the filing from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declared on Wednesday, reports CNBC. Rogers wrote that Roman had lied to maintain the belief that evidence of internal discussions about a 27% commission fee on some purchases linked to the App Store was real, when it was not.
Outright lied
The original 2021 ruling included an injunction against Apple, forcing it to change its anti-steering rules for the App Store, and allow for purchases to be made externally to Apple’s systems. However, in 2024, Apple introduced policies to collect a 27% commission fee from those payments, in lieu of getting the usual 30% for handling in-app payments directly.
Rogers writes that it was expected for such off-app payments would be free of the Apple commission. Instead, the judge explains that nearly every decision Apple made on the policies was, in the court’s view, anti-competitive.
The judge also warned that Apple’s handling was deceptive to the court, and forced the executive to lie. Apple had presented evidence of internal discussions that were “tailor-made for litigation,” instead of what actually happened.
“In stark contrast to Apple’s initial in-court testimony, contemporaneous business documents reveal that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anti-competitive option,” wrote Rogers. In order to “hide the truth” from the court, Roman “outright lied under oath.”
Hidden meeting
This wasn’t the only deceptive practice by Apple, Rogers continued. Apple is accused by the judge of withholding documentation relating to a June 2023 meeting about the 2021 court order, involving CEO Tim Cook.
The meeting’s existence meeting was apparently hidden from the court by Apple until 2025. Rogers adds that Apple abused privilege to avoid sharing the documents, particularly in cases where decisions involved senior executives.
In this case, the talks involved Cook and Apple Fellow Phil Schiller, with the latter preferring that Apple did not take a commission on web links. “Cook chose poorly,” Rogers states, as the CEO decided to ignore Schiller’s advice.
Potential punishment
Apple didn’t correct the “now obvious” lies, Rogers concludes, as it had instead “adopted the lies and misrepresentations to this Court.”
It is possible that Apple and Roman could face punishment over their actions during the trial. Rogers has referred the case to U.S. attorneys for an investigation into whether to pursue criminal contempt proceedings against Roman or Apple.
The accusations round out a tough court filing for Apple, which saw Rogers find Apple in violation of the 2021 injunction. Meanwhile Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has taken to social media to declare victory over Apple with a “peace proposal.”
Apple has responded to the court that it strongly disagrees with the decision on the injunction, but it will comply with the order and appeal.
It’s highly probable that the headache for Tim Cook won’t be over until long after Thursday evening. He has to face analysts during the Q2 results conference call late on Thursday, and the matter will almost certainly be raised by participants.
