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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →On April 30, 2025, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple had willfully violated a 2021 injunction in its legal fight with Epic Games. She said Apple finance vice president Alex Roman had “outright lied under oath” about the company’s 27% commission on purchases made through external payment systems, and referred Apple and Roman to federal prosecutors for a possible criminal-contempt investigation.
That finding came in a later enforcement proceeding—not the original 2021 trial—and it was not a criminal conviction for perjury. The Ninth Circuit’s December 11, 2025 decision narrowed parts of the enforcement order but left the core anti-steering injunction in place.
What the judge actually found
Judge Rogers concluded that Apple had tried to comply with the injunction in form while preserving the commercial effect of its App Store rules. Her April 30 order held Apple in contempt for restricting how developers directed customers to outside purchasing options and for charging a 27% commission on qualifying external purchases.
The order also described Roman’s testimony as containing “misdirection and outright lies.” The court’s finding concerns what Roman told the court and the evidence presented in the enforcement hearings; it does not establish that he was criminally convicted of perjury.
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PC Gamer’s account of the order summarizes the court’s findings and the 27% commission dispute.
Who was Alex Roman?
Roman was identified in the proceedings as Apple’s vice president of finance. He was not Apple’s chief financial officer; Luca Maestri held that role during the internal discussions described in the court’s findings.
Roman testified about how Apple set the fee for purchases completed outside an iOS app. The disputed testimony concerned whether Apple had considered the costs developers would pay to external payment processors.
What Roman told the court—and what the judge said the evidence showed
Roman’s account
Roman testified that Apple had not considered developers’ external payment-processing costs when it set the 27% commission.
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The contradiction identified by the court
Evidence reviewed by Judge Rogers showed that Apple had considered those costs. The court said those costs could exceed the three-percentage-point reduction Apple offered from its standard 30% in-app commission. In other words, Apple presented 27% as a modest discount from 30%, while the evidence indicated that external processing expenses were a material part of the calculation.
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Why the wording matters
“Lied under oath” was the judge’s characterization of testimony in a civil enforcement proceeding. Perjury is a separate criminal offense requiring its own prosecution and proof. The referral to prosecutors authorized an investigation into possible criminal contempt; it did not mean charges had been filed or that a conviction had occurred.
How the dispute began: the 2021 injunction
Epic sued Apple after attempting to use its own payment system in Fortnite. In 2021, Apple won most of Epic’s claims, but Epic obtained an injunction addressing Apple’s anti-steering rules.
The injunction required Apple to stop preventing developers from:
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- Including buttons, links, or other calls to action directing users to purchasing mechanisms outside the App Store.
- Communicating with users about alternative purchasing options.
It did not require Apple to permit Epic’s own payment processor inside Fortnite’s iOS app. The relief concerned external links and communications, not unrestricted third-party payment processing within an app.
Apple’s compliance strategy
Apple allowed external purchasing links, but the district court found that the surrounding conditions undermined the injunction’s purpose.
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- Apple imposed a 27% commission on qualifying purchases completed outside an app.
- It used warnings sometimes described as “scare screens” that could discourage users from leaving the App Store flow.
- It restricted how external payment links could be presented.
Judge Rogers viewed those measures as an effort to preserve Apple’s revenue and discourage external purchasing rather than genuine compliance with the order.
What the court said about Apple’s internal decisions
The court also criticized Apple’s handling of documents, including material concerning a June 2023 meeting involving CEO Tim Cook about injunction compliance. Judge Rogers said Apple had delayed or withheld material relevant to how senior executives made the decision.
According to the court’s characterization of the evidence:
- Phil Schiller argued for compliance without a commission.
- CFO Luca Maestri and Apple’s finance team persuaded Cook to pursue the 27% approach.
- Judge Rogers wrote that “Cook chose poorly.”
Those statements describe the judge’s assessment of the evidence in this proceeding; they are not a finding that every Apple executive acted improperly.
Penalties and the criminal-referral issue
The April 30 order required Apple to:
- Stop imposing a commission on qualifying purchases made outside apps.
- Stop interfering with developers’ communications about external purchasing.
- Pay Epic’s attorneys’ fees connected with the enforcement dispute.
- Comply immediately instead of adopting another negotiated workaround.
Judge Rogers referred Apple and Roman to the appropriate U.S. Attorney’s Office for investigation of possible criminal contempt. The available reporting does not establish that prosecutors later filed charges, that Roman was convicted, or that Apple was criminally prosecuted.
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Apple’s response
Apple said it strongly disagreed with the ruling, intended to appeal, and would comply while the appeal proceeded. That response disputed the decision; it was not an admission of the judge’s factual findings.
What the Ninth Circuit changed
On December 11, 2025, the Ninth Circuit modified portions of the April order. The appellate court said Apple could impose certain limits on the prominence, size, quantity, or placement of developer buttons and links when Apple offered its own purchase option. It also allowed generally applicable content standards.
The appellate court did not erase the central anti-steering relief and rejected Apple’s request to have Judge Rogers removed from the case. The result was mixed: some operational restrictions were narrowed, but the underlying injunction and the finding that Apple and its executives had violated the earlier order remained significant.
Read the official Ninth Circuit opinion for the appellate court’s modifications.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What it means for developers and users
For developers
The ruling strengthened the ability to tell U.S. users about external purchasing options without Apple’s former commission and discouraging presentation. The Ninth Circuit’s later decision means Apple may still enforce some neutral limits on link prominence, placement, quantity, and content when its own purchasing option is available.
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For users
In the affected U.S. App Store context, a developer may direct a customer to a web checkout or another outside purchasing system. That does not mean every App Store transaction worldwide became fee-free, and it does not create a general right to use a third-party processor inside an iOS app.
For Fortnite
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said after the April ruling that Fortnite would return to the U.S. iOS App Store. That was Epic’s announced response to the order. The legal remedy applied more broadly to developers and did not itself restore Epic’s preferred in-app payment system. The materials available here do not establish Fortnite’s operational availability on every later date.
Why this was more than another Apple-Epic loss
The important development was the court’s conclusion that Apple’s approach was deliberate: the company permitted links while attaching a commission, warnings, and presentation limits that the judge said frustrated the injunction’s competitive purpose. The court then treated the disputed testimony and document handling as serious enough to warrant a possible criminal-contempt investigation.
Because the Ninth Circuit later modified parts of the order, the April ruling should not be described as surviving word-for-word. But neither was it overturned wholesale. The central anti-steering requirement remained in force.
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