Apple Fights to Keep Epic Court Ruling From Helping Rivals

Apple petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court this week to limit the scope of a lower court injunction in its ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, arguing that the Fortnite creator’s individual lawsuit should not force sweeping App Store policy changes that benefit uninvolved tech giants like Microsoft and Spotify.

Apple Challenges the App-Store-Wide Injunction

In its latest legal filing, the iPhone maker contends that Epic Games’ grievances over App Store commission structures should not result in a nationwide injunction covering all developers on the U.S. storefront. Apple argues that Epic did not file a class-action lawsuit, meaning any court-ordered relief should apply strictly to Epic rather than reshaping the entire ecosystem for companies that played no part in the litigation.

“Epic never brought a class action and never attempted to show that enjoining Apple’s conduct against all other developers — like Microsoft or Spotify, who have nothing to do with Epic — was somehow necessary to provide relief to Epic,” Apple stated in its petition, urging the nation’s highest court to review the lower court’s decision.

The Fight Over Out-of-App Payment Links

The core of the current dispute stems from a civil contempt order issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court previously ruled that Apple must allow developers to include external links within their iOS apps, giving users the option to bypass Apple’s proprietary payment system and purchase digital goods directly from developers.

The ‘Spirit’ of the Law vs. Technical Compliance

While Apple complied with the mandate to allow external links, it instituted a 27% commission fee on those outside transactions. The Ninth Circuit ruled that this steep fee effectively defeated the purpose of the injunction, leading to the contempt order. However, Apple is fighting back on technical legal grounds, questioning whether a federal court can hold a company in contempt for violating the “spirit” of an injunction when the original order did not explicitly prohibit charging commissions on external purchases.

A Five-Year Legal War With No End in Sight

Backed by massive financial resources, Apple has kept Epic’s 2020 antitrust lawsuit tied up in court for over five years. Epic Games has criticized Apple’s persistent appeals, characterizing this latest Supreme Court petition as a desperate attempt to delay the final resolution of the case and block open payment competition that would benefit consumers.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court denied Apple’s request to halt additional proceedings while the court evaluated whether the current sanctions against the tech giant were justified.

Despite the unresolved litigation, Epic Games recently announced the global return of Fortnite to the App Store—excluding Australia. Epic remains confident that the judiciary will ultimately dismantle Apple’s restrictive fee structures permanently.