Apple applies to the US Supreme Court for a stay on the Epic case ruling, involving App Store commission dispute

According to 9To5Mac, on May 4 local time, Apple submitted an application to the Supreme Court seeking to suspend the order issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Previously, according to IT Home, on April 28 local time, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling. The original ruling allowed Apple to maintain its current App Store commission structure during its appeal to the Supreme Court.

The overturning of this ruling means that Apple must now return to the lower court to renegotiate: for developers guiding users to use third-party payment channels, how much commission it can collect.

In 2021, as part of the Epic Games v. Apple ruling, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Apple to relax its anti-steering rules. Apple was required to allow developers to link to alternative payment options within their apps. Apple complied but continued to charge high fees (up to 27%, 3% lower than its standard fee), leading the court to find Apple in contempt for willfully violating the injunction.

This time, Apple argued that the designation of contempt was unwarranted because the 2021 injunction did not mention anything regarding App Store fees; the existence of this inappropriate contempt finding in the record unfairly harms its position during the remand process.

The Supreme Court's decision could affect the scope of this case, as one of Apple's arguments is that the injunction should apply only to Epic Games, not to all developers distributing apps in the United States.

Apple contends that the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling conflicts with other courts, as it allows contempt findings based on the "spirit" of the injunction rather than the actual text; Apple also stated that there is a reasonable likelihood that the Supreme Court may hear the case and overturn parts of the ruling, so the litigation should be suspended for now.

Apple also pointed out that it is not seeking to block the injunction itself and will continue not to charge commissions on purchases made outside the App Store during the case proceedings, which means suspending enforcement will not cause immediate harm to Epic.