Apple could face criminal contempt charges over ‘Apple tax’
Apple’s salad days are over.
The company sits on the precipice of reinvention, and may become even more inward-facing in response to a damning US court judgement that may yet see it face criminal charges for contempt of court.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ruled that Apple wilfully violated a 2021 court injunction that required it to change some of its business practices in terms of permitting developers to offer customers ways to purchase digital products outside of Apple’s App Store.
**‘Will not be tolerated’**
The judge told the company to stop preventing developers from sharing external purchasing options and barred it from imposing commissions on transactions made outside its stores. “Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” the judge wrote in her decision, finding Apple in contempt of court when Apple’s Vice President of Finance, Alex Roman, lied under oath.
Documents shared during the trial reveal “that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option,” Rogers wrote.
She also noted that Apple CEO Tim Cook ignored Apple Fellow Phil Schiller’s advice that Apple should comply with the injunction, and permitted former CFO, Luca Maestri, to convince him not to do so. “Cook chose poorly,” said the judge.
**An Epic win**
This is just the latest instalment in the