Appeals court backs contempt finding against Apple, but reopens a door
for iPhone app fees
[December 12, 2025] By
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
A federal appeals court on Thursday backed a ruling that held Apple in
civil contempt for brazenly defying an order designed to open its iPhone
app store to other payment systems besides its own, but the decision
also reopened a door for the company to collect commission from the
rival options.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals mostly validated a scalding contempt order issued in
April by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for violating a key
part of her September 2021 findings in a legal battle instigated by
video game maker Epic Games.
But the Ninth Circuit's 54-page decision overturned one key part of
Gonzalez Rogers' civil contempt crackdown that prohibited Apple from
collecting commissions when consumers make an e-commerce purchase within
an iPhone app through a payment systems that operate outside of Apple's
control.
The appeals judges decided the ban that would have prevented Apple from
imposing fees on rival payment options was too severe and ordered
Gonzalez Rogers to reopen the case to determine a fair commission rate
that the Cupertino, California, company, can charge. The ruling provided
some general guidelines for how Gonzalez Rogers might determine a fair
commission on external payment systems, but didn't make any suggestions
about what the percentage might be.
Neither Apple nor Epic immediately responded for requests for comment
late Thursday.
But the appeals decision agreed Apple had made a mockery of Gonzalez
Rogers’ attempt to create more payment competition in the iPhone app
store as part of a case that began in 2020. That’s when Epic, the maker
of the Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit alleging Apple had set up a
price-gouging system within the iPhone app store that had turned into an
illegal monopoly.
[to top of second column] |
 Epic's case targeted Apple's
iron-clad control over all its devices and software — an approach
that has become known as the company's “walled garden.”
As part of the strategy, Apple required all in-app purchases on
iPhones to be made through its own payment processing system while
collecting commissions ranging from 15% to 30%. Those commissions
have become a huge moneymaker within a services division that brings
in more than $100 billion in annual revenue for Apple.
Although Gonzalez Rogers rejected Epic's assertion that the iPhone
app store had turned into an illegal monopoly in her 2021 decision,
she ordered Apple to allow links to alternative payment options to
be displayed within apps.
Apple continued to fight the alternative payment option in appeals
before being rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court i n January 2024.
The company then announced it would charge commissions ranging from
12% to 27% on iPhone app purchases made on alternative payment
options — rates that remained so high that few developers decided to
offer other choices.
That prompted Epic to allege Apple was in contempt of court, a claim
Gonzalez Rogers embraced after a series of testy court hearings last
year and earlier this year that led her to conclude the company's
efforts to allow alternative payment systems into the iPhone app
store was little more than a “sham.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
