Has the Supreme Court backed Apple over Epic Games?

The Supreme Court has denied a request from Apple to pause a mandated return to District Court with Epic while it contends with its appeals. So, it faces a battle on two fronts after all.

The new decision is the latest defeat for Apple that has resulted from the 2020 lawsuit against Epic. Apple won the great majority of that case, yet it is still embroiled in legal battles over it.

On Monday, May 4, 2026, Apple asked the Supreme Court for a stay on a mandate that saw it required to meet with Epic Games in court to negotiate a new commission rate. According to Reuters, that request has now been denied by Justice Elena Kagan.

Previously, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the District Court had ruled that Apple was in contempt of an injunction that required Apple to end its anti-steering practices. As a result, since April 2025, Apple has been forced to take no commission on these external purchases.

Later, the Circuit Court ruled that Apple was indeed allowed to charge a commission on external purchases, but that it and Epic would have to decide on the rate in court. After some back and forth, Apple must now face the Supreme Court with its appeals and the District Court at the same time.

In the meantime, Apple will continue to take zero money when iPhone users purchase certain extra features by linking out of the App Store to developers’ sites. It hasn’t collected a commission on external purchases since the original injunction violation was filed in April 2025.

Apple vs Epic continues. Image source: Epic Games

Apple had hoped to have the lower courts side of the case paused while it prepared its appeals to the Supreme Court. The company had argued that:

A stay is now needed before Apple is forced to litigate its commission rate under an erroneous and prejudicial contempt label— in proceedings that could reshape the global app market— before this Court can consider whether to grant review.

Even though the stay wasn’t granted, there’s still some hope that Apple could get its appeals through the Supreme Court before the District Courts arrive at any decision. If the Supreme Court agrees with Apple’s scope appeal, it could mean only having to make changes for Epic and not all developers.

If the Supreme Court also agrees that using the spirit of the law to call for an injunction violation isn’t allowed, the battle in the District Court won’t be required at all. It all hinges on which court moves faster at this point.

How Apple got here

It’s now six years since Epic Games chose to make Apple throw its “Fortnite” game off the App Store and so begin a long legal battle. Despite the fact that Apple won that battle overall, there was a single count in the case that went in Epic’s favor.

That was concerning how Apple then prevented app developers from directing users to alternative ways to pay, such as through special offers on their website. Apple was ordered to change this, and would claim that it did.

However, Epic Games has argued that Apple has flouted the spirit of the law. In April 2025, Judge Gonzalez Rogers agreed, and called Apple’s moves a “gross miscalculation” of what the court would accept.