By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear Apple’s bid to escape being found in contempt in its legal fight with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games after the iPhone maker was deemed in violation of a judicial order mandating sweeping changes to its lucrative App Store in the antitrust litigation.
The justices took up Apple’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling upholding a decision by Oakland, California-based U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers finding Apple in contempt in Epic’s 2020 lawsuit contesting App Store fees.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October.
The justices said they will hear Apple’s appeal contending it cannot be held in contempt for allegedly violating the “spirit” of a court injunction but not an express provision. Apple has denied violating any prior court orders against it.
“This is an important question of law, and we are pleased the Supreme Court will hear our case,” Apple said in a statement.
Epic Games said in a statement the company at the Supreme Court will fight what it called “junk fees Apple charges on third-party payments.” Lower-court judges, Epic said, “have rightly found Apple’s fees to be illegal and anticompetitive, and we’ll continue to defend free markets.”
The lawsuit by Cary, North Carolina-based Epic Games challenged Apple’s control over transactions in applications that use the company’s iOS operating system and its restrictions on how apps are distributed to consumers.
Apple and Epic have clashed for years over the rules governing Apple’s App Store. The contempt ruling and the scope of Apple’s court-ordered obligations are the latest issues in the dispute to reach the Supreme Court. Apple has said the legal issues in the litigation will affect how millions of app purchases are made.
Cupertino, California-based Apple mostly defeated Epic’s lawsuit, but was required in a 2021 injunction issued by Rogers to let developers include links in their apps directing users to non-Apple payment methods.
Apple allowed the links but adopted new restrictions, including a 27% commission on developers for purchases made on payment systems outside the App Store within seven days of clicking a link. Commission rates for developers of apps on the App Store can range from 15% to 30%, and Apple says most developers pay no commission to Apple at all.
Epic argued that the new 27% commission flouted the earlier injunction. In 2025, Rogers found Apple in civil contempt for violating the injunction.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December upheld the judge’s contempt finding but let Apple make new arguments about what commission it should be allowed to charge for digital goods bought in apps distributed through the App Store but paid for using third-party systems.
That new effort has not yet begun in the district court in Oakland.
Apple also argued to the Supreme Court that the injunction should not be applied to millions of developers beyond Epic Games. But the justices’ order indicated the court would not take up that question.
“Regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States,” Apple told the Supreme Court in a filing.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Will Dunham)
