Apple Faces Judge's Disapproval Over Missed Deadline in Epic Games Dispute

Apple is racing against a fast-approaching deadline to produce over 1 million documents related to its recent App Store changes. On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Hixson rejected Apple's request for a deadline extension, calling the move "bad behavior." As a result, Apple is still required to meet the original deadline of Monday, September 30. "It's up to Apple to figure out how to meet the deadline, but Monday is indeed the deadline," the judge asserted.

This development is part of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite. The dispute centers on Apple's App Store policies. Although Apple won the majority of the rulings in U.S. district court, the court did mandate the company to relax certain rules, allowing developers more flexibility in collecting payments without relying on Apple’s in-app payment system.

In response, Apple introduced App Store changes in January. However, Epic Games has contested these updates, accusing Apple of "bad-faith" compliance, as Apple continues to take a smaller commission on payments.

In August, a judge ordered Apple to produce documents detailing its decision-making process behind the new App Store rules. But by Thursday, Apple argued that Epic’s search terms revealed over 1.3 million documents—double the expected amount—requiring two extra weeks for review.

Judge Hixson, who oversees the document discovery process, denied Apple's request and criticized the company for raising the issue so close to the deadline. He remarked that Apple's sudden announcement that it couldn't meet the deadline "hardly creates the impression that Apple is behaving responsibly." With Apple's "nearly infinite resources," he suggested the company could likely complete the review "in a weekend."