Apple standing its ground in Epic's App Store fee suit

Apple has submitted its initial arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court, contesting a contempt ruling in its ongoing legal dispute with Epic Games. The Supreme Court recently granted Apple's request to review the contempt ruling, which was issued in a 2020 lawsuit filed by Epic Games. The crux of the issue revolves around Apple's anti-steering rules, which were found to violate California's Unfair Competition Law, resulting in a permanent injunction requiring Apple to permit developers to include third-party payment options.

Apple initially complied with the injunction but now argues that it was never intended to prohibit developers from charging commissions on purchases made outside the App Store. Apple's opening brief contends that civil contempt can only be imposed if an order explicitly prohibits the conduct at issue, citing past court decisions and emphasizing that a party cannot be held in contempt unless the order leaves no reasonable doubt of its prohibition.

The company also challenges the Ninth Circuit's broader standard, which permits contempt for violating the "spirit" of an injunction, arguing that it allows courts to decide after the fact that conduct was prohibited even when the injunction never clearly stated it. Apple's brief argues that allowing the contempt finding to stand would increase the risk of judicial overreach and the severe remedy of contempt should only be applied when a party violates the unambiguous terms of an order.