U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Apple Emergency Stay in Epic Games Case

Apple has finally hit the end of its non-compliance runway: The U.S. Supreme Court today denied Apple’s attempt to block a judicial order requiring it to open up its App Store as required by its loss in the Epic v. Apple antitrust case.

“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,” Apple’s legal team wrote in its plea to the Supreme Court.

“This confirms that Apple’s ongoing five years of stall tactics in the U.S. court system, leading to the contempt of court finding against them and the criminal referral for giving false testimony, is plainly aimed at stalling worldwide relief for developers and consumers,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney retorted on Twitter/X. “Apple must be stopped. Regulators and law enforcers need to see this and get off the sidelines.”

As you may recall, Apple’s belligerent non-compliance with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s original order in Epic v. Apple and the discovery that Apple executives lied under oath led to that judge harshly punishing Apple by imposing extensive new requirements on its extortionist App Store fees. Apple naturally appealed this ruling and then tried to stall its implementation, but it has lost at every step, leaving it with its final legal recourse: A plea to the same U.S. Supreme Court that previously refused to intervene in the nearly identical Epic v. Google case.

Now, the Court has refused to intervene in Epic v. Apple as well.

“Great news – the Supreme Court denied Apple’s delay tactics,” Epic Games tweeted. “Now we head back to the District Court to determine what Apple can charge for only the necessary costs of implementing external purchase links.”