Supreme Court to hear Apple appeal in Epic Games App Store dispute

The Supreme Court agreed on June 30 to take up Apple’s appeal in its Epic Games App Store contempt fight, putting the power over iPhone payments back in front of the justices just as the next term opens in October. The case does not decide the broader antitrust merits, but it could determine how far judges can go in forcing a dominant platform to open its payment system and how narrowly a company can read an injunction.

Epic filed its original lawsuit in August 2020 after it enabled direct payments inside Fortnite and Apple removed the game from the App Store within hours. In 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland ordered Apple to let developers steer users to outside payment options, a ruling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld in April 2023. The Supreme Court declined to take the broader Epic and Apple appeals in January 2024, leaving that injunction in place.

The dispute intensified after Judge Gonzalez Rogers found in April 2025 that Apple willfully violated her 2021 order. She also referred the matter for possible criminal-contempt proceedings involving Apple and an executive. After the injunction, Apple allowed external links but imposed a 27% commission on purchases made outside the App Store.

Apple had already asked the court in May 2026 to pause the contempt order while it sought review, but Justice Elena Kagan denied that application. The petition now before the court asks whether a judge may hold a company in civil contempt based on violation of an injunction’s “spirit” when the order does not clearly prohibit the conduct at issue.

Apple welcomed the court’s decision to hear the appeal. Epic, led by Chief Executive Tim Sweeney, said it would keep fighting Apple’s app-store “junk fees” on third-party payments.