Apple vs Epic Games: Apple takes its 27% commission fight back to the Supreme Court

Apple is heading back to the Supreme Court. The iPhone maker filed a motion on April 3 asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay its mandate while it prepares a petition for certiorari—essentially buying time before a lower court sets a new commission rate for App Store purchases made through external payment links.The Ninth Circuit granted Apple's motion on April 6. Epic Games immediately challenged it.Apple's Supreme Court push centers on two legal questions. First, whether courts can hold a company in contempt for violating the "spirit" of an injunction when the injunction's actual text never mentions the conduct in question. The Ninth Circuit found Apple in contempt for charging a 27% commission on linked-out purchases—even though the original injunction said nothing about commission rates.

Other circuits require the order's language to clearly and unambiguously forbid the specific conduct before contempt can stick.

Apple argues that gap warrants Supreme Court attention.

Apple lost this fight before: Here's why it thinks this time is different

Second, Apple is challenging the scope of the injunction itself, which currently extends to all iOS developers nationwide—not just those connected to Epic. Apple points to the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling in Trump v. CASA, which held that injunctive relief should be narrowly tailored and go no further than needed to give the plaintiff "complete relief."

Apple argues Epic never proved that a nationwide remedy was necessary.The Ninth Circuit denied Apple's rehearing petition on March 30, leaving the Supreme Court as its only remaining option. Notably, the Supreme Court already refused to hear an earlier Apple appeal in this case—that one challenged the requirement to allow external payment links at all.

Epic says Apple is just running out the clock

Epic Games isn't buying the delay. Spokesperson Natalie Munoz called Apple's stay motion "another delay tactic to prevent the court from establishing significant and permanent bounds on Apple's ability to charge junk fees on third-party payments," adding that only a handful of developers—including Spotify, Kindle, and Patreon—have been willing to use external payment links given Apple's tactics.While the legal wrangling continues, Apple currently charges zero commission on linked-out purchases pending a court-approved fee.