Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan gave Apple a one-day reprieve Wednesday in its legal fight with Epic Games, temporarily blocking a court order that would have required Apple to submit a proposed fee structure for App Store links to outside payment options by 5 p.m. Eastern.
The short stay gives the full Supreme Court time to consider Apple’s request for a longer pause. Unless the justices extend it, Apple will have to submit its proposal by 5 p.m. Thursday.
The dispute has put Apple in an unusual position. The company would rather collect no money from external App Store links than have a court establish a fee that could influence its broader legal fights with developers and regulators.
Apple wants the fee question put on hold
The Supreme Court’s move came a day after a federal district court in California rejected Apple’s request to delay the proceedings and gave the company 24 hours to propose what it wants to charge developers who direct customers to purchases outside the App Store.
Apple then went to the Supreme Court with an emergency request, arguing that the lower court should not decide the fee question while the justices are considering whether to overturn the contempt ruling at the center of the dispute.
If the Supreme Court throws out that ruling, Apple argues, the fee proceedings would no longer matter.
Kagan denied a similar request from Apple earlier this year.
The fight started with Epic
The dispute dates back to Epic Games’ 2020 lawsuit over Apple’s App Store rules. Apple won on the central monopoly claim, but the court ordered the company to stop preventing developers from directing customers to cheaper payment options outside the App Store.
Apple subsequently allowed those links but continued charging fees that were close to its standard App Store commission. That approach led to another legal fight over whether Apple had actually complied with the injunction.
In April 2025, the district court found Apple in contempt and concluded that the company had willfully violated the order. It prohibited Apple from collecting fees on qualifying external purchases in the U.S.
An appeals court later upheld the contempt finding but said Apple could charge a reasonable fee for the value of its intellectual property. The case then returned to the district court to determine what that fee should be.
Apple would rather charge nothing
Apple has not collected fees on App Store link-outs in the U.S. since April 2025. Its latest court filings suggest the company would prefer to keep it that way rather than let a judge establish a rate.
Apple has argued that a court-imposed fee in the U.S. could become a benchmark in disputes elsewhere. Regulators in other countries are already examining Apple’s App Store rules, and the company does not want a rate established in one proceeding to become a reference point in those fights.
The bigger issue for Apple is that the fee question could disappear altogether. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple’s appeal of the contempt ruling and is being asked to overturn it.
If Apple wins, the contempt ruling would disappear along with the restrictions it created. The appellate court’s instruction to calculate a reasonable fee would go with it.
For now, though, Apple has one more deadline. Unless the Supreme Court extends Wednesday’s stay, the company must tell the district court by 5 p.m. Thursday what it believes developers should pay for sending customers outside the App Store.
