The ongoing legal fight between the popular game maker and the iPhone creator continues to heat up. This week, Epic Games officially fired back against a new request from Apple that would hit the pause button on the current lower court hearings. The smartphone giant wants to freeze the local hearings while the nation’s highest court reviews a previous decision related to App Store fees and external payments.
Epic claims the tech giant is just stalling for time
In 2021, a judge told Apple it had to let app makers point users to payment options outside the standard digital storefront. The company followed the rule by allowing outside links, but it added a steep 27 percent fee on those sales. The judge decided that this new fee broke her original order and held the tech giant in civil contempt.
Apple disagreed with the contempt ruling. This is why Apple asked the US Supreme Court to review the App Store fee ruling in the Epic Games case directly. Because of this high court appeal, the company asked the lower court to pause all local proceedings until a final ruling comes down. Epic strongly opposes this move. In its new filing, the game developer calls the request a clear attempt to delay competition and put off a final answer on what fees are actually allowed.
The lower court still needs to set a fair commission
Epic argues that no matter how the high court rules on the contempt charge, the local judge still needs to determine exactly what commission is fair. With the top court not expected to issue a decision until late 2027, Epic believes waiting that long makes no sense. The game maker feels it is much more efficient to move forward and figure out the exact math now.
As the Supreme Court steps into the Apple and Epic Games App Store fight, the next move sits with the local judge. Apple is expected to file its official reply soon. If the judge denies the request for a pause, the tech giant will have only 24 hours to submit a real proposal for how it plans to handle external link commissions.
