Apple’s years-long legal battle with Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it has agreed to hear Apple’s appeal of a ruling that found the tech giant in contempt for violating a court order meant to loosen its control over in-app transactions, Bloomberg and other outlets reported.
Epic’s fight with Apple dates back to 2020, when the company sued both Google and Apple after Fortnite was removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The removals came after Epic announced it was adding a direct payment option that bypassed the companies’ native payment systems.
The lawsuits challenged what Epic characterized as Google and Apple’s monopolistic practices over the high commissions they charge developers and how difficult they make it for users to download third-party app store alternatives like the Epic Games Store.
Google and Epic settled their beef earlier this year, with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney even agreeing to stop attacking Google’s app store policies. Apple’s fight with Epic, however, is still very much alive.
Apple was told to let users use third-party payment options—then charged a fee on those, too
Epic largely lost its original case against Apple, but U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in 2021 that Apple was required to allow developers to direct users to alternative payment options outside the App Store. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the ruling, meanwhile Supreme Court declined to take up the case at the time.
Apple eventually allowed developers to include links in their apps sending users to third-party payment systems. But it also added a commission of 27% on purchases made through those outside links.
Epic argued that Apple’s new fees was basically a workaround that violated the original ruling. The courts have mostly agreed.
Rogers ruled last year that Apple had failed to comply with her earlier order and directed the company to stop charging commissions on purchases made outside the App Store.
The 9th Circuit upheld the contempt finding last December, but it also ordered Rogers to cotinue proceedings to determing how much. Apple can charge developers for purchases completed through third-party payment systems.
That issue was still pending when Apple brought the fight to the Supreme Court.
What the Supreme Court agreed to hear
According to Bloomberg, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Apple’s appeal on the contempt finding. However, the Court does not appear to be taking up a second issue Apple raised over the scope of the injunction, which Apple aruges impacts how it handles working with developers around the world.
Apple and Epic did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Gizmodo.
However, an Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac, “This is an important question of law and we are pleased the Supreme Court will hear our case.”
For its part, Epic posted on X, “We’re heading to the Supreme Court where we’ll continue to fight against junk fees Apple charges on third-party payments. Lower courts have rightly found Apple’s fees to be illegal and anticompetitive and we’ll continue to defend free markets.”
