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Apple asks U.S. Supreme Court to review contempt order in Epic Games lawsuit

MacDailyNews

May 22

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Apple on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that held the iPhone maker in civil contempt for charging fees on certain outside purchases made by customers through its App Store.

The petition escalates a years-long legal battle with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games, which sued Apple in 2020 in an effort to loosen the company’s control over in-app transactions on its iOS operating system and its restrictions on how apps are distributed to consumers.

Mike Scarcella for Reuters:
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A judge mostly dismissed ⁠Epic’s lawsuit but issued an injunction in 2021 requiring Apple 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.

Epic argued that the new 27% commission flouted the earlier injunction. In 2025, the judge found Apple in civil contempt for violating the injunction.

Apple urged the justices on Thursday to take up two legal issues. It said the injunction should not apply to millions of developers, since ‌Epic ⁠is the only plaintiff and the case is not a class action. Apple also contends it cannot be held in contempt for allegedly violating the “spirit” of an injunction that did not explicitly prohibit the conduct in question.

Apple has denied any wrongdoing and says it is complying with court orders.

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MacDailyNews Take: It’s Apple’s App Store, not Epic’s. Apple did not flout the injunction. Apple has a right to charge developers for use of its App Store.

Apple’s 30% commission (reduced to 15% for many smaller developers) has always funded the secure infrastructure, rigorous app review process, fraud protection, payment systems, and ongoing platform development that benefit users and honest developers. Epic wanted all the upside of that ecosystem with none of the contribution.

The bottom line is clear: Epic Games wants to enjoy all of the benefits of Apple’s App Store, including access to well over one billion of the world’s most affluent users for free. That is illogical, unfair, and, basically, theft. – MacDailyNews, May 4, 2021

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022

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