The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will hear Apple’s challenge to a massive civil contempt order the firm faces in an antitrust lawsuit involving Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite.”
Epic challenged Apple’s rules governing apps that can be sold to use on Apple’s mobile operating system.<>Epic won an initial ruling in 2021. When Apple responded by charging a 27% commission on nonplatform sales, a district judge said that violated the original ruling and imposed the contempt finding.
Apple asked the Supreme Court to review both the scope of the antitrust decision, which applies to developers beyond Epic, and the contempt finding. The justices on Tuesday said they were looking only at the contempt issue.
Apple has long tried to maintain a closed environment for sales of apps used on its mobile platform, barring in-game purchases that didn’t go through Apple.
Epic challenged that and prevailed, forcing Apple to allow links to off-site platforms.
Apple responded with its fee, which lower courts said violated the original ruling. The tech giant contends the order was ambiguous and so contempt wasn’t warranted.
It took four justices to vote in favor of hearing Apple’s appeals. It’ll be heard during the court’s next term, which begins in October.
Epic Games has also pursued antitrust cases against Google over access and competition with its Play Store, similar to its challenge concerning the App Store with Apple.
Epic said it welcomed the battle.
“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,” the firm said on social media.
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