Apple Loses Bid to Pause App Store Reform Order in Epic Games Case

The Apple App Store fortress is under siege. The US appeals court denied Apple’s request to stay a district court order that would require them to open their walled garden to competition. That is the death knell for the iPhone maker to begin sharing control over their lucrative app ecosystem, and the battle for control is just providing space in this arena.

The Epic Games and Apple legal battle had interesting proceedings as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the tech giant’s request to hold up a judge’s order in the ongoing antitrust saga. Ripples could be felt across the app ecosystem.hlcиялық

The courtroom woes of Apple grow deeper. As found in contempt by a judge for allegedly flaunting an order in connection with the Epic Games case, the ruling was handed down on Apple in April by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who had presided over the original trial.

Apple expressed its disappointment noting that the company is “disappointed” by the refusal of the court to stay the district court’s order. Now, the tech giant will start a vigorous prosecution of its appeal, promising that it will not cease to speak for its position.

April 30 witnessed a legal battle turn dramatic when the judge slammed his gavel, forcing the tech juggernaut to break all its schemes of otherwise dodging an earlier injunction. Central to the ruling was the controversial 27% Apple commission charged to app developers on their out-of-App Store purchases: the court considered this commission as an overt trick of evasion.

The court also prohibited Apple from restricting where developers place links to make purchases outside of an app.

At XI: “‘The Apple tax is dead!’ stated Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, who expressed his elation because of the outcome of the case.”

Apple argued that the recent ruling restricts its control over fundamental business functions and forces it to, in a way, give free passes to others to use its services. The tech giant placed a label on it as a major threat during the emergency appeal.

Epic Games countered that Apple was trying to continue evading competition and collecting fees that the judge had barred.

The moment Judge Gonzalez Rogers suspended the ruling in April, a gale of competitive winds started blowing over Apple’s walled garden. In response to the injunction, the developers initiated waves of app updates containing payment rights that are simply irresistible, better coupon codes, and consumer choices that upend the prevailing conditions by virtue of Epic.

In 2020, Epic Games fired a digital shot heard ’round the world by filing a lawsuit against Apple. Since the target of this suit was Apple’s overarching grip on the iOS ecosystem, Apple had, in its opinion, so much power over the way apps undergo transactions, and even over how they get into their users’ hands. Epic was not looking for a mere adjustment; they wanted to shrink Apple’s hold.

A victory for Apple was recorded, although a 2021 decision by Judge Gonzalez Rogers clipped its wings: developers must now guide users toward other means of payment, thus possibly sidestepping Apple’s disallowed garden fees.

Apple defied that court order to maintain a revenue stream worth billions of dollars, Gonzalez Rogers wrote in April.

There was an uproar as she thrust accusations at Apple, maintaining that the tech giant intentionally wanted to mislead the court concerning its compliance with another of her injunctions. She then went on to demand the U.S. Attorney’s office to bring criminal contempt proceedings against Apple and a particular executive in that respect for purposely refusing to obey the court’s orders.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Thanks for reading Apple Loses Bid to Pause App Store Reform Order in Epic Games Case