Apple Hit With Class Action Lawsuit for Violating Court Order on App Store

Just days after a federal judge found Apple in contempt of court over its App Store anti-steering rules, law firm Hagens Berman has filed a new class-action lawsuit targeting the company's handling of those policies.

Filed on May 2, 2025, the lawsuit focuses on Apple's conduct following a court injunction that required the company to allow developers to link to external payment options. Hagens Berman—best known for securing a $100 million settlement for iOS developers over App Store fees—alleges that Apple deliberately circumvented the court's requirements.

The basis for the suit is the recent contempt ruling by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who found Apple in "willful violation" of a 2021 injunction. As we previously reported, Judge Rogers ruled that Apple's compliance plan—which introduced a 27% commission on purchases made through external links—was anticompetitive and designed solely to preserve revenue. The court subsequently barred Apple from charging any commission on such purchases and struck down numerous restrictions on how developers can include external links in their apps.


According to a press release from Hagens Berman, the lawsuit asserts that Apple conducted internal analyses with the intent to sidestep the injunction and retain its commission model. It accuses the company of using "scare tactics" to dissuade developers from using external links, citing court findings that Apple provided "reverse engineered justification[s]" for its behavior.

The complaint also references testimony indicating that Apple CEO Tim Cook was advised by at least one senior executive to comply with the injunction, but ultimately followed the recommendations of the finance team.

"Apple's scheme worked as planned," the lawsuit states. "Although the injunction has been in 'effect' for over 15 months, Apple has been able to identify only 34 developers who have even applied to offer linked-out payments through their apps. This represents an infinitesimal 0.025% of the 136,000 developers who offer apps through the App Store."

"Apple's lip service concealed its real intentions from the start: to use every trick in the book to subvert the court's order, in flagrant violation of the law," Berman said. "This was not a victimless crime."


Pure Sweat Basketball Inc., maker of a popular basketball training app, is the named plaintiff in the suit. The action seeks to represent more than 100,000 developers who sold digital goods or subscriptions on the App Store after January 16, 2024. The core allegation is that Apple unlawfully blocked these developers from linking to outside payment methods, effectively forcing them to pay commissions that had been prohibited by the court.

Apple, for its part, continues to dispute Judge Rogers' ruling. As reported earlier this week, the company filed an appeal on May 5 in an effort to overturn the ban on web purchase commissions and restore its linking restrictions.

You can learn more about the class action lawsuit and register your interest here. Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for more updates on the case.