Dec 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday said Apple ( AAPL )

misused attorney-client confidentiality protections to avoid

turning over some corporate files related to its App Store in a

lawsuit brought by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson in San Francisco

rejected Apple's ( AAPL ) effort to withhold the documents from Epic. The

game maker had accused Apple ( AAPL ) of failing to comply with a 2021

ruling in the case that required it to give developers more

power to steer app users to non-Apple ( AAPL ) payment options.

Epic has asked a judge to hold Apple ( AAPL ) in contempt of that

court order, which came in its lawsuit accusing Apple ( AAPL ) of

antitrust violations. Apple ( AAPL ) was ordered in May to produce all of

its internal documents concerning its work to comply with the

judge's order.

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

comment. Apple ( AAPL ) has denied violating the court's injunction.

Apple ( AAPL ) has produced 95,000 documents to Epic, but has held

back 57,000 others, court records show.

Apple ( AAPL ) last month told the court that "a substantial number

of those documents" are protected by attorney-client privilege,

which shields confidential legal communications between lawyers

and their clients.

Epic argued that the shield rule did not apply to the files.

It accused Apple ( AAPL ) of withholding "tens of thousands of

responsive, relevant documents on the basis of facially improper

and unsubstantiated privilege claims."

Hixson criticized Apple ( AAPL ) in his order on Monday for

stretching its privilege arguments too far.

"Privilege does not descend like a giant fog bank over every

document that is in some way connected with an effort to achieve

legal compliance," Hixson wrote.

Hixson said it was "improper" for Apple ( AAPL ) to claim

attorney-client privilege to shield some business decisions that

concerned user interface design. He also said Apple ( AAPL ) must turn

over a draft press briefing.

Other technology companies have also faced criticism over

broad assertions of attorney-client privilege.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 had accused Google in

an antitrust lawsuit in Washington, D.C. of "extensive and

intentional" efforts to misuse attorney-client privilege to hide

business documents. The DOJ said Google employees were trained

to add lawyers to emails, and to ask them questions.

Google denied that its practices violated any professional

conduct rules, and a judge declined to sanction the company.

The case is Epic Games v. Apple ( AAPL ), U.S. District Court,

Northern District of California, No. 4:20-cv-05640-YGR.

For Epic: Yonatan Even of Cravath, Swaine & Moore

For Apple ( AAPL ): Mark Perry of Weil, Gotshal & Manges

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