In the ongoing antitrust litigation between Apple and Epic Games, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has rejected Apple’s request to stay a lower court’s order requiring major changes to its App Store operations.
The decision marks a key victory for Epic Games and further intensifies pressure on Apple to comply with competition-related obligations imposed by the courts.
On Wednesday, the appellate court declined to pause portions of a federal injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who had earlier found Apple in contempt for attempting to circumvent an order from the high-profile lawsuit initiated by Epic, the maker of the popular game Fortnite, Reuters reported.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s April 30 ruling mandates that Apple must immediately cease several business practices she described as obstructive to competition. These include a 27% commission Apple introduced on developers when users completed purchases outside the App Store — a move the court saw as a deliberate attempt to sidestep its original injunction. The judge also barred Apple from limiting where developers may place links directing users to alternative payment platforms.
Apple responded to the appellate court’s decision with a public statement expressing its disappointment:
“We are disappointed with the decision not to stay the district court’s order, and we’ll continue to argue our case during the appeals process.”
In contrast, Epic Games hailed the ruling as a landmark step toward greater platform fairness. CEO Tim Sweeney declared on social media platform X:
“The long national nightmare of the Apple tax is ended.”
Apple had argued in its emergency appeal that the court’s order interfered with its ability to control “core aspects of its business operations,” and effectively forced the company to offer free access to proprietary services. Epic Games countered that Apple was simply seeking to preserve its monopoly over iOS app transactions and evade lawful competition.
Since Judge Gonzalez Rogers issued the April injunction, Epic reported a “surge of genuine competition,” citing that developers have already begun updating their apps with improved payment systems, better deals, and enhanced consumer choice.
The origins of the case date back to 2020, when Epic Games sued Apple in an effort to challenge the company’s tight control over the iOS ecosystem — particularly its insistence that all app transactions flow through its App Store, where Apple collects a commission of up to 30%.
Although Apple largely prevailed in the 2021 ruling, Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruled at the time that the company must permit developers to steer consumers toward alternative, and potentially more cost-effective, payment options. In her latest findings, she accused Apple of defying that order to preserve a multibillion-dollar revenue stream and misleading the court about its compliance efforts.
In a striking escalation, she referred Apple and one of its senior executives to federal prosecutors for a potential criminal contempt investigation.
The appeals court’s decision not only strengthens the enforcement of competition obligations within the digital economy but also signals judicial impatience with noncompliance by dominant tech firms.
