A court has rejected Apple’s bid to pause a ruling over App Store fees, in the latest development in a lengthy legal battle with Epic Games.
The Fortnite maker returned the hit game to Apple’s marketplace in May after a court ordered Apple to remove its App Store fees worldwide. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled on April 30 that Apple must stop collecting a 27% commission on sales made through apps outside the App Store, marking a legal victory for Epic Games.
This ruling benefits not only Epic but also other app companies like Spotify that want to monetize content on Apple devices.
In response, Apple updated its App Review Guidelines to include approved buttons, external links, and other calls to action related to monetization.
Judge determined Apple violated a 2021 injunction
Gonzalez Rogers said Apple violated a 2021 injunction that barred the tech giant from collecting a fee on transactions within apps downloaded from the App Store, as it amounted to anticompetitive pricing. Apple argued that allowing app makers to redirect users to third-party sites to collect payment could compromise the security of the apps and devices. Processing payments through Apple enables faster transactions, but app makers lose revenue. Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to stop collecting the fee on off-app purchases and to remove any barriers between app developers and customer interaction.
Epic argued Apple’s reaction — reducing the fee from 30% to 27% and specifying ways in which storefronts could be included in apps — amounted to malicious compliance. In 2020, Epic Games had removed Fortnite from Apple devices due to what Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called Apple’s “junk fees.”
Epic Games will return Fortnite to the Apple App Store if Apple removes the fee and embraces the court’s “friction-free framework” for giving customers access to third-party sites, Sweeney said.
Rogers agreed with Epic, calling Apple’s decisions “insubordination”
“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” Gonzalez Rogers said, according to Reuters. “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order.”
Apple attempted to pause the court order, but in June the court rejected the company’s argument as insufficient. Apple had argued that the removal of the 27% commission caused “irreparable harm.”
Gonzalez Rogers recommended federal prosecutors address the issue as a criminal contempt case.
SEE: Apple is attempting to get EU rules walked back that would open iOS to interoperability with third-party devices.
Epic Games also clashed with Google over app store fees
Epic Games has a history of pursuing legal action against app distributors. It waged a similar war against the Google app store, alleging fees for allowing transactions outside of the Google Play app store on Android. Google appealed the initial antitrust ruling in 2024.
The matter is even more complicated in the EU, where Apple lost an antitrust case against Spotify in 2024. In that case, the European Commission determined Apple’s terms and fees for app developers violated the Digital Markets Act.
