May 5 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) on Monday lodged an

appeal to challenge a U.S. judge's ruling that ordered the tech

company to immediately open its lucrative App Store to more

competition.

Apple ( AAPL ) in a court notice said it will ask the San

Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the

April 30 ruling, which found the company in contempt of an

earlier order in a 2020 antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in her

decision that Apple ( AAPL ) willfully failed to comply with a 2021

injunction designed to allow developers to more easily steer

consumers to potentially cheaper non-Apple ( AAPL ) payment options.

Gonzalez Rogers also referred Apple ( AAPL ) and one of its

executives to federal prosecutors for a possible criminal

contempt investigation. She refused to put her order on hold,

accusing Apple ( AAPL ) of delaying and purposefully misleading the

court.

"Apple ( AAPL ) sought to maintain a revenue stream worth billions in

direct defiance of this court's injunction," Gonzalez Rogers

said.

Apple ( AAPL ) had denied violating terms of the court's order.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Epic Games did not immediately respond to requests

for comment.

Apple's ( AAPL ) appeal notice did include its planned legal

arguments.

The lawsuit by Epic Games, the maker of online video game

Fortnite, aimed to loosen Apple's ( AAPL ) grip over transactions in

applications that use its iOS operating system and how apps are

distributed to consumers.

Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple ( AAPL ) to end several practices that

she said were designed to circumvent her earlier injunction,

including a new 27% fee it imposed on app developers when Apple ( AAPL )

customers complete an app purchase outside the App Store.

The judge also barred Apple ( AAPL ) from using so-called "scare

screens" to deter consumers from using third-party payment

options.