Supreme Court will hear Apple's appeal over App Store contempt ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple’s appeal challenging a civil contempt finding related to its App Store fees in the long-running Epic Games v. Apple case, focusing on whether Apple violated a 2021 judicial injunction by charging developers up to 27% on purchases made through external payment links. Although a 2021 court order required Apple to allow developers to link to alternative payment options outside its ecosystem, the company imposed a 27% commission on such transactions, which the Ninth Circuit later ruled effectively blocked developers from using the links due to the high cost. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple in civil contempt for willfully violating the injunction, ordering it to stop collecting revenue shares on non-Apple payment methods and remove restrictions on external links. The Supreme Court’s review will determine whether a court can hold a party in contempt based on violating the “spirit” of an injunction when the order does not explicitly prohibit the specific conduct, a legal question that could reshape how app store commissions are regulated across the industry.