U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan today granted Apple a one-day stay in its legal fight with Epic Games, giving Apple more time to hammer out what fees it wants to charge developers for links to purchase options on the web.
Just yesterday, the US District Court for the Northern District of California denied Apple’s request for a stay of proceedings, giving Apple 24 hours to present its fee proposal. Apple then filed an emergency brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that the fee calculation should be suspended until the justices hear the case and rule on the contempt ruling. If the contempt decision is dismissed, a costs proceeding will not be necessary.
Bloomberg claims the short stay is intended to give the High Court more time to consider Apple’s application. Without the pause, Apple would have had to submit its fee proposals to the court by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. Apple now has until 5 p.m. Thursday, unless the Supreme Court grants the company a longer reprieve. Kagan previously rejected a similar suspension request earlier this year.
The fight over fees is part of an ongoing dispute with Epic Games that began in 2020. Apple won the initial legal battle and was not declared a monopoly, but the company was ordered to change its anti-steering rules to allow developers to connect to non-App Store purchasing options. Apple did this, but charged fees almost identical to standard App Store fees.
Epic Games accused Apple of violating the injunction, and the court agreed. Apple was found in contempt of court for willfully violating the original ruling and prohibiting charging fees on links in the US App Store.
An appeals court ruling upheld the contempt ruling but said Apple must pay reasonable fees for its intellectual property. The case was remanded to the district court to determine reasonable costs. Apple then appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justices agreed to hear it.
Apple wants the Supreme Court to throw out the contempt ruling, thereby overturning the order barring it from collecting fees and the appeals court’s subsequent order requiring a reasonable calculation of fees. Apple has argued that regulators around the world monitor what a U.S. court considers a reasonable rate, so the fee proceedings provide a reference point even if the contempt ruling is thrown out.
Apple hasn’t collected fees for U.S. routes since April 2025, and the company would rather continue to collect no money while it exhausts all appeals than let the court set a rate.
