Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has rejected Apple’s request to pause the App Store fee proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s review of the company’s contempt ruling. Here are the details.
Last month, Apple filed a motion to pause the proceedings that will determine what commission, if any, it can charge on purchases completed outside the App Store.
This is part of the ongoing lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, in which Apple was found in contempt for imposing a 27% commission on purchases made through external links after Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the company to allow developers to direct users to alternative payment methods.
Apple appealed the contempt finding to the Supreme Court. After the Court agreed to hear the case, Apple asked Judge Gonzalez Rogers to pause the lower-court proceedings, arguing that the eventual Supreme Court ruling could affect any work done in the meantime.
In its response to Apple’s request, Epic argued that the court should deny the motion for stay, saying the proceedings should move forward regardless of the Supreme Court’s review.
The filing also noted that Apple had already agreed to submit its proposed fee and supporting evidence within 24 hours if the stay request was denied.
Apple, for its part, further attempted to persuade the court by citing a recent decision in another Northern District of California case that was stayed because the judge agreed that it could be affected by the same Supreme Court review.
Now, as Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney noted in a post on X, Judge Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s request. In practice, this means Apple now has 24 hours to file its proposed fee, the calculations behind it, and evidence explaining why the court should approve it.
Will Apple honestly document their costs for human reviewer time and seek to recoup them? Or fabricate outlandish new notions of cost previously unknown to mankind? Tune in 24 hours from now to find out.
Apple has yet to comment on the decision, and Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling has also yet to be made public. We reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post if we hear back or once the order becomes publicly available.
Update, 8:15 p.m. ET: Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling is now publicly available. In her decision, she says that “the Supreme Court’s grant of a narrow review of the contempt proceedings does not substantially impact the factual issues that must be resolved to ensure compliance with the injunction,” adding that the fact that “Apple agreed to file its evidentiary proffer within 24 hours of this Court’s decision reveals Apple is prepared to proceed.”
She also takes a swipe at Apple’s approach to the proceedings, citing it as part of a broader pattern of delay in the case:
Given Apple’s propensity to delay, this phase will likely take time. We are approaching the five-year anniversary of this Court’s decision. Further delay is unwarranted.
You can read Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling in full below:
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Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.
He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.
